Pokemon: Rose Chronicles
by Wolvefire
Summary: May and Drew travel to Johto, where both singles and doubles contests are held. Extended version of One Good Reason and We Are One. Contestshipping, CS, DAML, MayxDrew, DrewxMay, etc.
1. Chapter 1

_I don't really like naming chapters, so none of my chapters will have names. I don't own pokemon or the song Pokemon Johto Movie Version. Oh, and btw, there's a song-fic style opening, kinda like the movies, no 'sound' besides the song.  
'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"Bye Mom, Dad, Max!" A girl with light brown hair and bright blue eyes waved from the boat. On the dock stood a large group of people, either watching the boat leave or saying farewell to their friends and family on the boat. Six of the figures were waving at the girl: a tall man with black hair, a woman with light brown hair in two pigtails and a young boy with long black hair and glasses, along with three pokemon.

"See ya, sis!" The boy, Max, called, his new Treecko waving beside him.

"Take care of yourself! Good luck!" The man, Norman, called. Behind him stood a proud Vigoroth.

"Don't forget to call!" Yelled the woman, Caroline, a Beautifly perched atop her head.

"I won't! See ya!" Turning around, the girl, May, looked ahead of her.

_(intro music to Pokemon Johto Movie Version starts playing)_

"Johto, here I come."

_Everybody wants to be a master_

_Everybody wants to show their skills_

_Everybody wants to get there faster_

_Make their way to the top of the hill_

May released her pokemon. Eevee ran around her in circles, and then jumped on her shoulders. Blaziken stood coolly to the side, folding his arms and watching Eevee with amusement. Squirtle happily danced around, falling over a couple times. May's other pokemon were either with her mom, or Professor Oak in Kanto, or Professor Birch in Hoenn.

_Each time, you try_

_Gonna get just a little bit better_

_Each step, you climb_

_Is one more step up the ladder_

May turned around and saw Drew smirking at her. He closed his eyes and flipped his hair. May pouted.

_It's a whole new world we live in_

_It's a whole new way to see_

_It's a whole new place_

_With a brand new attitude_

_But you still gotta catch'em all_

_And be the best that you can be_

Drew smirked again and said something, making May's face bright red with anger. May yelled at him, creating a larger smirk on Drew's face. Drew flicked his hair again.

_(Do-do-do-do)_

_Pokemon Johto_

_(Do-do-do-do)_

Both May and Drew turned sideways to see a newcomer. A girl a little older than May, with curled red hair falling just past her shoulder. Her bright green eyes shone as she held up a red and white pokeball, enlarging it with one finger. She was wearing an electric blue t-shirt that barely hugged her curves, with a loose light blue sleeveless jacket over it that fell to just below her waist. A dark navy blue pair of cargo-capris clung to her legs, while on her feet were simple blue and white running shoes. On her hands were a pair of light blue fingerless gloves with dark blue cuffs, a silver bow-and-arrow symbol in the center of each glove and her t-shirt. Nothing held back her hair from falling around her shoulders. _'4_

_Everybody wants to make a statement_

_Everybody needs to carve their mark_

_To stand alone in the victory circle_

_Stake their claim when the music starts_

May's eyes lit up, and she pointed in front of her, signaling Eevee to take her position. The other girl threw her pokeball in the air, releasing an Umbreon. The two girls faced off. _(This is where we'd see close ups of the trainers and pokemon.)_

_Give it all, you got_

_You can be the very best ever_

_Take your best shot_

_What you learn will come together_

The girl pointed, saying something to her Umbreon. Umbreon opened its mouth, releasing a powerful shadow ball attack on Eevee. May shouted something and Eevee jumped to the side, using a quick attack.

_It's a whole new world we live in_

_It's a whole new way to see_

_It's a whole new place_

_With a brand new attitude_

_But you still gotta catch'em all_

_And be the best that you can be_

Eevee used a bite attack on Umbreon, before leaping back to her side of the field. May's opponent shouted something, and Umbreon's tail began to glow silver. May told Eevee an attack, and her tail glowed silver as well.

_(Do-do-do-do)_

_Pokemon Johto_

_(Do-do-do-do)_

Umbreon and Eevee ran towards each other, gaining speed in the short distance, before simultaneously jumping off the ground and twisting their bodies around. Their iron tail attacks meet, bouncing off each other, before meeting again.

_(Do-do-do-do)_

_Pokemon Johto_

_(Do-do-do-do)_

The two eeveelutions landed on the ground, Umbreon immediately releasing a hyper beam. Eevee braced herself, unable to dodge in time. Luckily for her, the attack wasn't at full power and didn't affect her as much as it could have. Eevee sent a shadow ball towards Umbreon.

_(Whole new world_

_Whole new way_

_Whole new place)_

Umbreon dodged the shadow ball and sent a dark pulse attack towards Eevee. The black aura engulfed the little evolution pokemon, and she started struggling inside of it.

_(Whole new world_

_Whole new way_

_Whole new place)_

The girl said something to Umbreon, whose rings began to glow, healing it with a midnight attack. After a few moments, the attack broke, as Umbreon was done healing.

_It's a whole new world we live in_

_It's a whole new way to see_

_It's a whole new place_

_With a brand new attitude_

_But you still gotta catch'em all_

May watched the aura worriedly, calling out for her Eevee. The aura broke, revealing a cowering Eevee. May started calling Eevee, encouraging it, while Umbreon prepared another hyper beam attack.

_It's a whole new world we live in_

_It's a whole new way to see_

_It's a whole new place_

_With a brand new attitude_

_But you still gotta catch'em all_

May called commands to Eevee, who shakily stood up. Eevee used a quick attack to get closer to Umbreon, before it had the chance to use its hyper beam attack. Eevee flawlessly ended its quick attack, releasing a swift attack on Umbreon, who couldn't dodge due to the close proximity.

_It's a whole new world we live in_

_It's a whole new way to see_

_It's a whole new place_

_With a brand new attitude_

_But you still gotta catch'em all_

_And be the best that you can be_

Umbreon flew backwards, its eyes closed. Eevee followed immediately with a quick attack. Eevee and May watched it for a moment, before realizing that Umbreon had fainted, making Eevee the winner.

_(music fades away)_

May was jumping happily, giggling. Eevee ran over to May, and May caught him as he flew through the air, before twirling around and falling on her butt. The other trainer came up to May and laughed.

"My name's Cattie. _'1_ Your Eevee put up a great battle against my Umbreon."

"Thanks. I'm May, by the way." May stood up and shook Cattie's hand. Cattie looked May over, and she smiled in recognition.

"Oh, I remember you now. You beat that Drew guy in the Kanto grand festival."

May smiled, glancing over her shoulder at Drew, who was leaning against a wall, looking sideways over the railing of the ship, watching the water pokemon jumping out of the water. Beside him stood Roselia, watching the others on the ship. She turned back to Cattie.

"Yup! But it was only because of the time limit."

"That's the whole point of contest battles! To beat your opponent by keeping more points before time runs out."

"Yeah, that's true." May didn't want to talk about her win against Drew, so she changed the subject. "So, are you a coordinator then?"

Cattie nodded. "Yeah, for now anyways. I kind of switch every now and then between being a trainer and being a coordinator, you know, getting badges versus getting ribbons." She laughed. "Maybe that's why I haven't won any ribbon cups or leagues yet."

May giggled. "That's cool. I've never heard of anyone switching between them. I remember that guy, Juan, was a gym leader and a coordinator, and he won a ribbon cup."_'2_

Cattie rolled her eyes playfully and smiled at May. "Yeah, that's my dad for ya."

"Your dad?!"

"What? You dad's a gym leader too, or so I've heard. Norman, right? Uses only normal-types?"

May nodded slowly. "Yeah, true. It's just, well, you don't look anything like Juan."

"That's because I was adopted at birth. Then Mom died when I was little, so Dad raised me alone."

"Oh, I'm sorry." May said apologetically.

Cattie waved a hand in front of her, as if brushing it off. "Don't be, you didn't know, and it was a long time ago anyways." She glanced at her tired Umbreon, asleep in her arms. "Well, I guess I'd better get Gwen to the center, see ya around May."_'3_ Cattie walked off, heading inside the ship to find a Nurse Joy.

May looked around, setting down Eevee. She remembered Drew was nearby, and started walking towards him, before being grabbed by her shoulders from behind. Harley's head of purple hair appeared next to her, his chin resting on her shoulder.

"Hey, hun! I can't _believe_ we're going to Johto together. We can do all sorts of fun things, like battle and shop together…Oh, I know, why don't you travel with me?! I promise I won't pull anything, Officer Jenny sent me into professional therapy after the last Grand Festival, and it's been going really well!"

May sweatdropped, wriggling out of Harley's grasp. She turned around and started waving her hands in front of her, as though she was denying something.

"Um, that's…nice… Harley. Uh, I'll think about it, okay?"

"Sure thing, hun! Later!" Harley dashed off

May watched the man run off, turning around the corner and almost crashing into a waiter. When he was out of sight, she sighed. She looked at Eevee, sitting next to her, and said, "Eevee, don't let Harley get near me, alright?" Eevee nodded and went to play with the other pokemon. May smiled, and then walked over to the railing to watch the water pokemon pass the ship.

She sighed, a sad smile on her face as she watched a Mantine jump out of the water. _Manaphy, I hope you're ok._ May wondered how Manaphy was doing, being Prince of the Sea. As hard as she tried not to, she always missed Manaphy. _'''1_ A tear rolled down her cheek and she quickly wiped her eyes, forcing a determined smile onto her face.

"I know you're ok." She whispered, half to herself, and half to the sea. _I wonder if I'll ever see you again._ May didn't want to think about Manaphy anymore, so she turned around to find her room, coming face to face with Drew. She jumped, almost falling backwards over the railing. After flailing around for a moment, trying to catch her balance, she scowled.

"DREW! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Drew smirked. "May, May, May. You should pay more attention to your surroundings."

Suddenly, he shoved a rose in her face. A faint line of pink was visible on Drew's face, but he was able to disguise it as coming from the sunset.

"This is for your Eevee, for winning the match earlier."

May blushed, turning her head to hide it. She avoided the rose. "Why don't you go give it to her then, she's over there." May indicated with her hand where her pokemon were playing.

Drew flushed slightly. _This was not part of the plan._ He flicked his hair, smirking. "I'm already over here, so you can just give it to her later. See ya later, May." He tossed her the rose, which she caught out of reflex, and walked off with Roselia at his side. May watched until he disappeared around the corner.

As soon as Drew turned the corner to the rooms, he leant against the wall. "That was not supposed to happen." Roselia giggled at him.

Drew glared at her. "Shut up, Roselia." He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. Standing up straight, he put his hands in his pockets. "Well, I guess we should find our room now." Roselia hummed happily beside him, trying not to laugh at her master's failed attempts with May.

May looked at the sea one last time, and then returned her pokemon, except Blaziken. "Let's go find our room." Blaziken nodded, and they headed off in the same direction as Drew.

"209, 210, 211, 212…213, here we are." May put her cardkey in the slot and the door opened, revealing a single bed with a nightstand, and a small closet. There was also a tiny bathroom, with only a toilet, sink, and shower, near the door. Over one side of the bed was a small port window, overlooking the starboard side of the ship. May sighed. _At least I can walk around._ She returned Blaziken and went to the closet, where her bag had been placed. Pulling out her pajamas, she went in the bathroom and took a shower. Exiting the bathroom, she placed her day clothes carefully on the nightstand, made sure the door was locked, and fell onto her bed, exhausted.

* * *

_Notes:_

_'1 Cattie is based off Cattie-Brie from the Legend of Drizzt series by RA Salvatore. However, her hair in the Pokemon World really is a shade of bright red. Imagine fire, alternating streaks of multiple shades of bright red, dark red, and bright orange.  
I didn't realize when I was writing this, but in the series, Cattie-Brie is adopted and raised by Bruenor, a dwarf, just as Cattie was adopted and raised by Juan._

_'2 Ash hasn't met Nando yet, and so hasn't told May about him. I read somewhere that Juan won a ribbon cup before meeting Ash and friends, correct me if I'm wrong.  
_

_'3 Her Umbreon is named after Gwenhyvar, a large black panther from the Drizzt series. All of her pokemon will have nicknames from the Drizzt series. Since there aren't really any black cat-type pokemon and I didn't want to make Gwen a shiny pokemon, Umbreon was the closet pokemon I thought of._

_'4 In the series, Cattie-Brie is known for her archery skills using a magical bow-and-quiver, called Taulmaril._

_'''1 I'm guessing Phione was created after the 9__th__ movie? Otherwise the egg would've hatched a Phione, the baby stage for Manaphy, right? Ah well, if that _is_ true (that it should have been a Phione instead) then I suppose the creators/writers are allowed to mess up once in awhile, we all do._

* * *

_A/N: Like the story name? Anyone too OOC? Good battle/opening? Etc.etc. Advance critique encouraged!_

_Oh, and for those who have never heard of him, RA Salvatore is a fantasy/adventure writer. The Legend of Drizzt series follows an outcast dark elf, Drizzt Do'Urden. It's an excellent series for anyone interested in fantasy, unless you don't like really really long series of books (20+ and growing). (A character based on Drizzt will appear later in the story as well. I will probably use others as well. Cattie-Brie, Drizzt, and Gwenhyvar are my three favorite characters so far in the series.)_

**_Please see the poll in my profile to vote for the day of the week I'll try to update by. I'll update weekly._**


	2. Chapter 2

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The sun was shining on May's face. Grunting, she rolled over, falling off her bed.

"AHHH!! I'm awake, I'm awake!! Wha?" May stopped yelling and looked around, remembering where she was. She rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up. A loud horn blasted and she looked out the port window over her bed. The ship was entering a bay, a small city visible in the distance. _Olivine City. Wow, it's so pretty._ May giggled to herself, and started her morning routine.

After changing, washing her face, and packing her bag again, May happily ran out onto the deck of the ship, leaning over to railing to get a better view. She glanced down at the water pokemon swimming alongside the ship, some starting to swim away as they neared land. Directly beneath her, on the side of the ship, some words were painted. _S.S. Abra. Odd name for a ship…_ The S.S. Abra was almost to the dock, so May joined the rest of the passengers preparing to get off the ship in Olivine City. She spotted Drew near the back of the crowd, and Harley coming towards her. Since Harley hadn't seen her yet, May quickly ran over to Drew, hiding behind him. _'1_

Drew glanced at her, confused. Shaking her head, May put her finger to her lips and silently pointed at Harley. Seeing Harley, Drew shivered, then turned and smirked ahead of him, pretending to ignore May. They quickly left the ship, avoiding Harley, and May let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. Drew smirked at her.

"What's the matter, May?" He said, teasing her effortlessly, "Harley getting on your nerves?"

"No, Drew, Harley…" May shivered, "asked me to travel with him through Johto. That'd be worse than traveling with you!"

Drew frowned for a moment, then flipped his hair and smirked again. "Ah, May. As much as you'd love to travel with me, I just don't think it'd work."

May started fuming, feeling a bit heartbroken on the inside. "Why would I ever want to travel with you, Mr. Arrogant Jerk?!" A flash of red light came from the bag around her waist, and suddenly Eevee stood beside her. Leaping up and grabbing May's bandana, Eevee started running off towards the city, turning around about ten feet from May to make sure she followed. "EEVEE, GIVE THAT BACK!!" May started running after Eevee.

Drew stared after the two, shaking his head. Slowly, he started to head for the Contest Hall to receive his contest pass for Johto. He narrowly avoided Harley, who was asking everyone if they had seen May. He was almost to the Pokemon Center when he spotted May again, talking to Eevee.

May finally caught Eevee, just outside the Pokemon Center. Picking up the small pokemon, she snatched back her bandana and started trying to put it on her head, one-handed. Eevee jumped down and started chasing its tail while May placed the bandana back in place on her head. "Eevee, why did you grab my bandana?" Eevee happily cried, still chasing its tail. May giggled at the young pokemon. "Let's go get my contest pass." Holding out her hand, in the same way Ash did for Pikachu, she let Eevee run up her arm and balance on her shoulder.

Laughing, May spun in circles, watching Eevee run back and forth along her arms, spread out as far as they could reach. Drew smiled, watching them, but since he didn't want to be caught staring at May, he quickly walked into the Pokemon Center. Walking up to the counter, he waited for Nurse Joy to finish typing. "Where can I find the contest hall? I need to get my contest pass for Johto."

Nurse Joy smiled. "We're still building Olivine City's contest hall, but I can give you a pass. Please let me see your trainer ID." Drew pulled out his ID and Kanto and Hoenn contest passes, handing them to Nurse Joy. She took them, and started typing into the computer. "Would you like a new picture?"_ '2_

"Sure, why not?"

Nurse Joy took a new picture, adding it to the info for Drew. Printing the pass, she gave it to Drew, along with his other passes and ID. "Here you go, please enjoy your stay in Johto, and good luck in contests. If you would like for your pokemon to be checked, please give their pokéballs to Chansey." Giving his pokéballs to the Chansey nearby, Drew stood waiting near the counter, staring out the window at the little town.

May started running in a random direction, Eevee still on her shoulder. "Where do you think the contest hall is, Eevee?" She looked around, spotting the top of a domed building nearby. _Maybe that's it._ Running towards the building, she entered a construction site. Groups of Machoke, Machamp, and Onix were moving wood and other items around. A couple of Arcanine were helping weld metal pieces together. A Venusaur, a Bayleef, and an Ariados were using vine whip and string shot to help lift objects, like wooden boards, to higher scaffolding and floors fro the workers. A single Abra sat in the center of the bottom floor, using psychic and teleport to move objects around. An Electrode was powering a small generator, allowing the workers to charge the batteries for their various devices, such as power drills, and, when needed, helium lights for cloudy days and nighttime shifts. In front of all the construction stood a sign showing a large building. Underneath the picture were the words: "Coming Soon – Olivine City's Contest Hall!"

May sighed. "Well, Eevee. I guess we're not going to be competing in the contest here soon." Defeated, May started walking back towards the pokemon center, to get a room and have her pokemon checked. Reaching the counter, she didn't notice Drew nearby. "Nurse Joy, I'd like to have my pokemon checked."

Nurse Joy nodded and smiled. "Please give your pokéballs to Chansey." May pulled out her pokéballs and set them on the tray the Chansey was holding. Eevee jumped off her shoulder and sat down comfortably on the tray. May smiled as Eevee started talking to Chansey while they left for a check-up.

"Oh, and I need a room, please."

Nurse Joy turned to her computer and started typing. "We some rooms available. Would you like to share a room with others? Or would you rather be alone?"

May smiled politely. "I don't mind sharing."

Typing in the information, Nurse Joy wrote down a number on a slip of paper and gave May a small keycard. Here's your room number and keycard. There are two others sharing the room with you right now. They're traveling alone as well."

After thanking Nurse Joy, May turned around and finally noticed Drew. "Hey Drew!"

Drew opened his eyes and glanced at her. "Oh, hi May."

"Drew, your pokemon are perfectly healthy. Come back soon." Nurse Joy said, while Drew collected his pokemon from the tray Chansey held.

Turning back to May, Drew smirked. "So, May, did you get your contest pass for Johto yet?"

May frowned. "No, the contest hall isn't ready. I'll have to get it in the next town."

Drew's smirk grew, as he swiftly pulled out his new contest pass. "May, May, May. Didn't you know that you can get your contest pass here?"

May's face grew red, both from angry and embarrassment. "Y-yeah. I knew that. I was just testing you!"

Flicking his hair, Drew walked off. May watched until he was out of sight. By that time, Chansey had returned with May's pokemon. Eevee jumped on May's shoulder again, making May laugh again.

"Nurse Joy, can you give me a contest pass?"

"Of course, May. I need you trainer ID, please."

May gave Nurse Joy her trainer ID. Her old contest passes were at home with her mom.

"Would you like a new picture?"

"I can have a new picture?" May thought about it for a second. "Yeah, definitely." May received her contest pass for Johto, thanked Nurse Joy and Chansey again, and left the pokemon center. "Hey, Eevee, where do you want to go?"

Eevee cried out happily, jumped off May's shoulder, and started running off, stopping every dozen feet to make sure May was still behind her. Finally, she stopped next to the construction site for the contest hall. Lifting a paw, she pointed at something on the board, talking animatedly to May.

May caught up and read the board again.

"Coming soon, Olivine City's own contest hall…Help wanted? Oh, you want to help them out?"

Eevee nodded and ran in circles around May's feet. May smiled at it.

"Ok, we'll start tomorrow then. Let's go watch the sunset at the dock. Wanna race?"

Eevee nodded.

"Just to be fair, don't use any attacks to boost your speed, kay? Ready? Three…Two….One….GO!!"

The two shot off. Because of her longer legs, May was ahead of Eevee for most of the race. When they were near the dock, Eevee used a burst of energy to gain on May, barely passing May before they reached the dock. May tried to run faster, but was exhausted from the sprint, and collapsed on the end of the dock. Eevee cried out happily and chased its tail. Sitting cross-legged, May held Eevee in her lap, resting her chin on the top of Eevee's head while they watched the sun.

May heard a noise behind her and turned her head. Drew was standing behind her, leaning against the railing, his arms crossed over his chest. Beside him stood Roselia, who walked up to May and started playing with Eevee. Unbeknownst to May, Drew had followed her after he saw her and Eevee racing towards the dock. Drew casually stared past May, right at the sunset.

"Drew? Why are you here?"

Drew flicked his hair. "Isn't it obvious, May? I'm watching the sunset. Even you should have realized that."

May pouted, turning her back to Drew with a "hmph," while crossing her arms. _Why'd _he_ have to come and ruin the moment? The jerk._

Drew smirked at May's anger. Calmly, they all watched the sunset in silence. Roselia and Eevee were asleep next to May, Roselia laying across Eevee. May's eyes were half-closed as she stretched and stood up. Looking down at Roselia and Eevee, she smiled. She gently picked up Roselia and placed her down on the dock, before returning Eevee to her pokeball. Yawning, she turned to Drew.

"Night, Drew."

"Later, May." Drew flicked his hair again, picked up Roselia, and started walking off, leaving May alone on the dock. To tired to get mad, May simply sighed and walked to the pokemon center.

"What was my room number?" She mumbled to herself as she pulled out the keycard. "4…6…8." Sliding the keycard in the door, May started to open the door. She remembered what Nurse Joy had told her earlier.

_There are two others sharing the room with you right now. They're traveling alone as well._

_I hope they aren't creeps… or worse, Harley._ May flung the door open, making sure it didn't hit the wall. The bunk bed on the right was occupied by a girl with long, dark green hair, and a Raichu. Opposite the girl, lying on the left bunk bed, was a boy with short, dark blue hair. His eyes were closed, and he was absentmindedly petting the absol beside him. The girl turned her head to look at May. Smiling, she got up and walked over to May, before holding out her hand.

"Hi there, my name's Katrina. And this little guy is Raichu." Her Raichu walked up beside her and cried out happily, sparking it's cheeks. Pointing over her shoulder, Katrina indicating the boy on the other bed. "That guy is Phillipe, with his absol." Phillipe raised a hand lazily, as if in greeting, and then continued stroking his absol. "Don't mind him too much. He doesn't really like talking." _'3_

May giggled. "Nice to meet you, Katrina, Raichu, Phillipe, Absol. My name's May. I'm a coordinator."

"May?" Katrina blinked, a thoughtful look on her face. Suddenly she smirked. "I'm a trainer, so is Phillipe over there. We're both planning to stay here to help finish the Contest Hall, before leaving again on our journeys. So, May, how are Beautifly and Skitty?"

"They're doing really well. Beautifly is with my parents back in Petalburg, and Skitty… Wait, how did you know I have a Beautifly and a Skitty?"

Katrina giggled. "I also know about your Eevee, Squirtle, Bulbasaur…" She paused for a second, silently mouthing while counting on her fingers. "Blaziken…Oh, and Munchlax. You have a little brother, Max, and you used to travel with Ash and Brock. Your father is Norman, the normal-type gym leader located in Hoenn, although I haven't battled him yet, and you love to try new food. Need I go on?"

May was in mild shock. Her mouth was slightly ajar, and her eyes widen than normal. "H-How do you know so much about me?"

"My little brother talks about you all the time."

"Your…brother? Who?"

Katrina yawned, and looked at the clock. "Wow, it's already pretty late. Better catch some sleep. Night, May. See you in the morning. Oh, do you want top or bottom?"

"Um. Either's fine."

Katrina nodded. "Hmm. I'll take top, then."

After getting ready to sleep, May flopped into her bed and stared out the window. _Johto will be different from Hoenn and Kanto. I've never traveled alone before. I wonder how Drew does it. _Shaking her thoughts away, May finally fell asleep.

* * *

_Notes: _

'_1 – The S.S. Abra. The other ships are Anne and Aqua. Abra was the first 4-letter word, starting with an A, that I thought of._

'_2 – The Nurse Joys in Johto have new outfits. A white blouse under a pink hoodie, with a small red cross at the bottom of the small v-neck, long pink skirt, and no hat. (I got this from the end of the 1__st__ pokemon movie. I really_ _liked how Nurse Joy looked then, with the different outfit and all.)_

'_3 – Katrina is a Character of the Day from the first season. Look her up on Bulbapedia to see a picture._

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the late update. I've been out of town a lot lately. So far, the story will be about 45 (or more) chapters long. Nothing ever goes exactly according to plan, though. Drew and May are too OOC at the end of this, but I was running out of ideas for this chapter. If anyone is interested in the room numbers and such, I tend to like the numbers 8 and 13, so those will probably show up a lot in my stories. _

_So, I'm pretty sure you all know who Katrina's little brother is. Kinda obvious, isn't it? Phillipe is just a random name I chose, after Hurricane Phillipe, the same year as Hurricane Katrina. Yeah, most of my OC's names are related in one way or another._

_I will be out of town for about five weeks mid-Summer. I will have limited internet access, but I don't think I'll be able to update, since I'll have to complete work for an online class. If I can update, I will, and if I can't, then I'll make up the lost chapters afterwards. __Anyways, I'll update as soon as I can finish the next chapter. I haven't had time to re-read this, so please let me know about any mistakes I might have made. I'll try to have the next three chapters ready by tomorrow. As always, Advanced Critique Encouraged.  
_


	3. Chapter 3

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

* * *

**Chapter 3**

May opened her eyes and slowly sat up. She was sitting on a small, very comfortable, brown sofa in a large research room. She glanced around. Swinging above her was a large spotlight. In front of her was a lot of equipment. The left wall held a large container of what appeared to be water, framed on either side by large, silver pieces of equipment, while on the right wall was a large computer and status checker, with a pokeball transfer attached to the wall nearest her. On the far wall, she could make out some stairs leading downwards.

Standing up, May turned around. Behind where she had been sitting was a large, two-floor triple-window. The wall to her left had some stairs leading up to a platform, facing out the window, and a pair of double-doors was visible. As if in a trance, May walked towards the massive window. Beyond the window was a massive coral for pokemon, housing a wide variety of pokemon of every type and size. May could see a large herd of Tauros far away from the window. Closer to the window was a small lake, and a large oak tree. Some smaller pokemon were standing around, swimming, or playing in the area surrounding the tree. The shadows of two figures were visible. Walking forward to get a better view from the window, May was surprised as her hand slipped through the window, sending her into a tumble down the short slope of the hill to the lake.

Standing up carefully, May was facing the building. She noticed immediately the window she had fallen through, and a door, further down on the structure, that connected the building to the coral. Turning around to face the lake, May watched as the two figures stepped away from the tree, towards a small group of grass-type pokemon. As she got closer, she recognized the two as Professor Oak and Tracey Sketchit. They were carefully observing the group of pokemon, in the center of which stood two Bulbasaur. May gasped, recognizing both where she was, and her own Bulbasaur, as it first turned to Ash's older Bulbasaur, who nodded, before glowing brightly. A moment later, an Ivysaur stood in it's place, seeming very proud. May ran forward to congratulate her Bulbasaur._ '1_

Hitting something hard, May opened her eyes abruptly, and quickly held her head in pain. She heard playful laughter above her.

"And that's why I gave _you_ the bottom bed, Maybelle." _'2_

May groaned, as Katrina dutifully helped her to stand up and sit back on her bed. Smiling, Katrina released a small blue pokemon with a round body.

"Spheal, use a combo of water gun and ice beam on this please." Katrina asked her Spheal after digging out a small hand-towel from her pack. Spheal obeyed, before exploring the room curiously. Katrina carefully placed the towel on May's head. "There. Better?"

"Yeah, thanks." May sighed, holding the cloth against her sore head. She looked up to smile at Katrina, and noticed the other bed was empty. "Huh? Where's Phillipe?"

Katrina looked over at Phillipe's bed, perfectly made. "Oh, he always leaves early, and without a word. It's his way." Katrina smiled and rolled her eyes, before standing up. "Well, if you're all set, I've gotta go. I told the workers I'd be there by mid-morning to help."

"Help? Oh, you're helping build the contest hall."

Katrina nodded.

May jumped up, the pain gone. "Can I help, too?! And my pokemon?!"

"Of course you can, Maybelle." Katrina laughed at the younger girl's antics.

May frowned slightly. "Why do you keep calling me Maybelle? My names May."

Katrina put a finger to her chin, tapping it lightly while staring thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Hm. I don't know." She shrugged and smiled. "I guess it just fits you. Maybelle." She said, reaching out to ruffle May's hair.

May laughed, playfully slapping Katrina's hand away. "I guess I'll see you later then."

Katrina bounced up and gracefully ran to the door. "Later, Maybelle."

May giggled, standing up to get ready. When she was done, she skipped down the hall to the videophone in the lobby of the Pokemon Center. Turning it on, she called Professor Oak.

"Hello? Oh, hi May. How's Johto?"

"Hi, Professor Oak. I'm in Olivine City right now, and it's beautiful. I was wondering how my Bulbasaur was doing? I had a dream about her last night."

"Your Bulbasaur? Oh, right! Yes, I was just about to call you, May. Last night, your Bulbasaur evolved into an Ivysaur. It was truly spectacular."

"Really? That's what happened in my dream. Can you transfer her to me please?"

"Sure, May. She'll be there in a minute."

May watched as Professor Oak stepped out of the range of the screen. She heard an Ivysaur calling, and a moment later watched as a pokeball popped into the transfer station attached to her videophone.

"Thanks, Professor! Say hi to everyone for me!"

"Alright, May. Good luck in contests."

"Bye, Professor." May waved to the screen, before hanging up. She picked up the pokeball from the transfer station and released her Ivysaur.

"Hi, Ivysaur! Do you want to help build a contest hall?"

Ivysaur happily agreed, and May returned her before running off to find the construction site again.

--

Eventually, May reached the construction site. Already, a few people were wondering around, working. A small group of people were gently placing the Abra in it's place, and some trainers and coordinators were helping the workers. May spotted Katrina near the sign in front of the building, trying on a construction helmet from a large box. May ran up to her, but stumbled on a rock. Trying to catch herself, she flew past Katrina, about to completely loose her balance. Luckily, just before she fell, she ran into someone, almost knocking the person to the ground.

"Careful." A cold, yet gentle, voice said.

May glanced up, and saw Phillipe half-glaring at her, half-amused. Quickly moving away, May flushed, embarrassed. "S-sorry!"

Katrina laughed. "What do you know? He was right, you are a klutz."

May pouted. "I'm not a klutz, I just stumbled."

Katrina stopped laughing, but still looked amused. "I'm sorry, Maybelle. I should get to know you before saying stuff like that." Reaching into the box, she pulled out a red helmet, handing it to May. "Here, I think this should fit you."

May took the helmet, thanking Katrina.

"Well, shall we get to work, May? Phillipe?" Katrina asked, securely fastening her dark blue helmet.

May turned around, looking at Phillipe. _I didn't know he was helping. I thought he'd leave the city early._ May shrugged. Pulling out her pokéballs, she released her pokemon. Standing in front of her were her Ivysaur, vines ready to help, Eevee, who immediately ran to May's shoulder, Squirtle and Blaziken watched Eevee for a moment, before Squirtle ran over to greet Ivysaur and start playing. "Guys, we're helping build the contest hall for Olivine City. When we're done, we can participate in their first contest!" All her pokemon stopped what they were doing and happily agreed. "Ok, well…I guess we should just walk around and find anyone who needs help, alright? Let's meet back here for lunch." After agreeing again, all of May's pokemon, except Eevee, hurried off to find where they could put their skills to the best use. May smiled as they left, giggling at their enthusiasm.

Looking around, May secured her helmet. She saw a Katrina, who had already walked off, help move long planks of wood to other groups who were cutting and placing the wood. She started walking towards the group, but tripped, her face hitting the ground. Sitting up, her legs still under her, she held her nose in pain.

"Great job, May." A sarcastic voice said behind her.

"Oh, dear. Are you okay, May cookie?"

Simultaneously, May's heart skipped a beat and she groaned in frustration. Standing up and turning around, she came face to face with Drew and Harley, both wearing purple helmets. Drew was obviously trying to get rid of Harley.

"Drew? Harley? Why are you here?"

Drew opened his mouth to answer, his hand ready to flick his hair, when Harley leapt forward, grabbing May's hands.

"Why, May dear, we're helping, of course!" He let go of her hands and twirled on the spot, releasing his pokemon. Cacturne, Banette, Ariados, Octillery, and Wigglytuff appeared all around him. "Let's go help!" He threw his fist in the air, in an over-enthusiastic victory pose. All his pokemon did the same, before running off towards the building to different groups. May sweatdropped at the sight.

"Are you gonna stand there or help?"

May jumped, before turning back to Drew. "Drew! I forgot you were there!"

Drew flicked his hair. "It's not my problem if you're forgetful." He walked off, releasing his pokemon once he reached a group of people hammering the planks of wood together. May sighed, running over to help Katrina.

--

Everyone had been working for a few hours. The frame of the contest hall was almost finished. It was early afternoon, so the overseer called a lunch break. Nurse Joy, the Chanseys and some extra volunteers had set up a long table with sandwich fixings.

Drew hadn't seen May since he left her earlier that day. He spotted her walking to the table, and sped up a little, heading in her direction. Finally reaching her, he walked behind her for a few moments, waiting. She tripped, and he had to force himself to not laugh.

"Klutz."

May turned her head and glared at him, but stopped, surprised, when he offered her his hand. After staring at it for a moment, she took it, and he pulled her up, almost knocking her into him. May's face turned light red.

"May! I got a sandwich for you, I hope you like it. I've got Raichu watching our food." Katrina ran up to the two of them. "Hey, little bro. Sorry about that, didn't mean to interrupt."

May and Drew looked between Katrina and the other.

"You know her?" They asked simultaneously.

"Yeah," May said, "she was my roommate at the Pokecenter last night. How do _you _…know…." She stopped, her eyes widening, glancing frantically between Katrina and Drew. "_Drew's _the little brother you were talking about?!"

Drew raised an eyebrow at Katrina. "You were talking about me?"

Katrina shrugged. "What? I can't talk about my family to my friends?"

Drew sighed. _She better not have said anything embarrassing._ Then he remembered how close he was to May. Blushing lightly, he dropped her hand and stepped back, flicking his hair. "See ya later, May. Katrina." His gaze lingered a moment on May, before he turned and walked off, throwing a red rose over his shoulder, which May caught. His pokemon saw him leaving and ran to him. May watched as he returned all of them. He walked around a bend in the road, out of sight of May and Katrina.

"He's leaving Olivine City, isn't he?"

Katrina looked at May's saddened face. "Yeah, he is. But you'll see him soon, I'm sure." She laughed, grabbing May's hands, spinning her around. "But it'd take a disaster to split you two lovebirds apart, Maybelline." May blushed.

"We're not lovebirds!"

Katrina winked at May, stopping and ruffling her hair. "You'll see. C'mon," she nodded towards the food. "Let's eat!"

May's eyes lit up at the thought of food. Laughing, the two started racing towards Raichu, who was dramatically guarding their sandwiches.

* * *

_Notes:_

'_1 – My recreation of Oak's Lab is based on pictures from Bulbapedia. It didn't say what was on the other side of the double doors at the top of the stairs in the research room. I assumed it was the study. I thought the oak tree in the backyard coral-area would be most appropriate for Oak's lab._

'_2 – I don't really like to use the nickname Maybelle for May, since I'm assuming that's a name fans use for her, but it just seemed like something Katrina would say, so I left it there. Just to be clear, it's Katrina's nickname for May, not May's full name._

* * *

_A/N: I'm really, truly sorry about how long this took! I'll probably end up re-writing the second half of this, since it's a bit rushed, but it'll be a very long time before that happens. Meanwhile, I'm a little busy this coming week. I'll try to finish Chapter 4 this week, but I don't think I'll be able to. My classes start in two weeks, but that should actually help my writing, since I'll be on a more even schedule. I have a couple questions for everyone…_

_1)Has the anime ever had karaoke? Or is karaoke strictly in fanfic.s?_

_2)Regardless of question 1, should Rose Chronicles have any karaoke songfic.s in it? (I have planned, not written, but I can't decide whether or not to put them in…So it's all up to you guys!)_


	4. Chapter 4

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

_

* * *

_

**Chapter 4**

Drew sighed, walking down the road to Ecruteak City with Roselia plodding along beside him. Roselia was humming and skipping, going to her own beat. Completely used to Roselia's behavior, Drew barely noticed. He couldn't stop worrying about the effects Katrina might have on May, or worse, the things Katrina might tell May. Katrina was the only one he'd really told about May, well, except for Soledad, but he'd never imagined May would meet Katrina so soon, and without him even introducing them. He sighed again, ruffling his hair in frustration. _Katrina! Why didn't you tell me you were still in Johto?! _Last time he'd heard, Katrina was headed for the Orange Islands. Apparently, she hadn't even left Johto yet. _I wonder what happened. I'll ask her about that later._

Roselia, a few dozen feet ahead of Drew, called out happily to him from the top of a small rise, bringing Drew's mind back to earth. Drew walked a bit faster to reach Roselia, already suspecting what was over the rise, Ecruteak City. _About time. We've been walking all afternoon._ Finally reaching the top of the small hill, Drew blinked. _This isn't Ecruteak._

Down the hill from Drew and Roselia was a large meadow, with lots of sentret, rattata, and furret running around. Hoothoot were hopping around happily, while butterfree and pidgey were flying around overhead. In the near distance, Drew saw a tall building protruding from the tree line. _That must be the Tin Tower. We're almost there._ He made his way down the hill. When he reached the edge of the meadow, he stopped, not wanting to scare the playing pokemon. After standing there a few moments, some of the younger sentret came over and started watching him, chattering away. He kept an eye on them, amused at their playfulness. Soon after, they came over and started pulling on him, trying to get him closer to the clearing.

He walked towards the meadow coolly, watching as the other pokemon stopped playing and gathered around to look at him. He flicked his hair, more to calm down than anything else, and let them size him up. After a few moments of tense atmosphere, they all cried out happily and started playing again. Roselia joined them, and Drew smiled as Roselia tumbled to the grass under three young sentrets, all of them laughing. Drew looked around at the pokemon, some of them resting in the shade now. Roselia came over to him and started hitting his pocket, where his pokéballs were. Understanding immediately, Drew tossed the balls in the air, releasing his other pokemon. Absol jumped away into the shadows, insecure in the open, while Masquerain and Butterfree immediately flew off to play with the wild butterfree. Flygon stretched it's wings before jumping into the air and flying straight up, wheeling and looping in the clear sky, far above the field.

Roselia and the sentret it was playing with joined paws, and roses in Roselia's case, and stood in a circle around Drew, who sat down to watch and rest. They started playing a kind of duck, duck, goose game, with Drew sitting in the center. Some of the other pokemon joined in a little while later, including some furret, Hoothoot, and even a couple of ditto. Apparently, they'd see or battled meowth and chansey before, since they kept changing into those. Drew started to lie down, listening to the pokemon chatter around him, and smiling for a moment as flygon joined the game. Flygon seemed to be the referee, probably because of his advantage of flight and size over the other pokemon. Before he finished laying down on the ground, however, a breeze hit the leaves, and the resulting shift in sunlight showed a flash of white in the shadows at the edge of the meadow.

Drew quickly sat up for a moment, peering intently into the dark area at the edge of the clearing. He could just make out two red spots, probably eyes, looking back, and a few red spots closer to the ground. The wind shifted the leaves again and he caught a glimpse of a ninetails and some vulpix sitting in the shadows. Behind him, the "goose" had been chosen, and he turned away for a moment to watch Roselia chasing a furret around the meadow. When he looked back, the ninetails and vulpix were gone. He stared a moment longer, before shrugging and standing up.

"Roselia! Flygon!" He called. They quickly came over to him, Roselia twirling away from the playful sentret. "Let's give them a show before we leave." They nodded and happily cried their names. "Get ready in the center of the meadow." The wild pokemon watched curiously as the two pokemon waited in the center, suddenly at attention. Drew thought for a moment, figuring out what attacks and combos to use in the impromptu appeal.

"Flygon, fly up high! Roselia, use sweet scent and aromatherapy!" Flygon took off, shooting straight up until he was a just a dot in the darkening sky of late afternoon. Roselia spun in circles, releasing pink dust and light blue powder all around her in a large circle, focusing it's energy so that the pink and blue cloud flew up as well. _'1_

"Flygon, dive down and use Dragonbreath! Roselia, jump on Flygon's back!" Flygon tucked in it's wings, diving towards the ground. It breathed in before releasing a glowing green-blue breath, almost fire-like. Roselia sprung high into the air, out of range of the attack and landed on Flygon's back as it swooped low to catch Roselia. The Dragonbreath burst into a circle of flame-like light, surrounding each particle of Roselia's attacks before disintegrating and falling to the ground.

"Roselia, petal dance! Flygon, fly around the field and use a weak silver wind!" Roselia twirled around on Flygon's back, releasing pink petals all around it. Flygon flew in slow circles around the meadow, releasing silver wind from it's wings like a light breeze and spreading the petals all over the field.

"Alright time to finish up! Flygon, fly up high! Roselia, jump off when Flygon's high enough and combine shadow ball and Solarbeam! Butterfree, Masquerain, slow down Roselia with Silver Wind! Absol, catch Roselia with quick attack!" Flygon flew high in the sky. All around the meadow, the petals started to float calmly to the ground. Roselia waited a few moments for Flygon to reach a good height and gathering sunlight, before jumping off, releasing both Solarbeam and Shadow Ball. The attacks combined into a long beam of sunlight with shadow ball's circling it as it reach the ground. When Roselia was about thirty feet from the ground, Butterfree and Masquerain started circling it, each releasing a powerful Silver Wind attack just underneath Roselia, slowing it down. Absol stood a few feet away, and when Roselia was only about ten feet from the ground, it rushed forward using a quick attack and caught Roselia on it's back. Flygon landed in the grass as Roselia jumped off Absol.

Drew's pokemon bowed, in their own ways. Flygon put it's head down, Absol kneeled on one of it's front legs, Butterfree and Masquerain landed on Flygon's head and put their heads down, while Roselia swept one of it's roses in front of it and did a human-like bow. The wild pokemon gathered around and started cheering. Drew looked up to the sky, taking note of the setting sun. He called his pokemon to him and they said goodbye to the pokemon in the meadow before he recalled all except Roselia. They started walking down the road to Ecruteak, but stopped and turned around. The wild pokemon were gathered in a line at the edge of the meadow, waving goodbye to Drew and Roselia. Drew pulled out a rose and looked at it for a moment, while Roselia looked sideways at him in confusion. A soft smile appeared on Drew's face for a brief moment, before he turned thoughtfully to the wild pokemon.

He pulled out a card from his pocket and quickly wrote something, before running back to the pokemon. A furret ran forward to meet him.

"If you guys meet a girl wearing a lot of red, probably with an eevee, can you give these to her for me?" He asked politely, dropping carefully to his knees to reach their level. The pokemon nodded, and carefully took the rose and card from Drew. Smiling, Drew stood up and continued walking to Ecruteak.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bright sunlight filled a small room, waking the single occupant asleep on the lone bed. Drew lay still for a moment, allowing his mind to wake up and his eyes to adjust, before sitting up carefully and stretching. He had arrived at the Pokecenter in Ecruteak a few minutes after sunset, and had given his pokemon to Chansey to be checked. He changed into his day clothes, gathered the few things he carried with him, and made his way down the hall to the front desk. After gathering his pokéballs and thanking Nurse Joy and Chansey, he left the center and looked around for the contest hall.

Near the northeast corner of Ecruteak, Drew finally found the contest hall. It's structure fit in with the other buildings in Ecruteak, except that it was larger and rounded. Drew walked confidently inside, and quickly signed up for the contest. It wouldn't take place under later in the day though, so he left the to explore Ecruteak and train for a bit.

He wondered around the streets for a few minutes, watching the locals walking around and some children playing with their parent's pokemon. Gradually, he made his way to the famous Burned Tower. Pausing in front of the magnificent structure, he stared in awe for a moment, before falling to the ground as someone collided with him, his face obscured by her blonde hair, which was in a strange hairdo that jutted out on either side of her head.

"OW!" A female voice cried out. She looked up at Drew, her brown eyes flashing. She opened her mouth to say something, but then her eyes widened in shock as she stared for a moment longer at Drew's face, making Drew a little creeped out. Suddenly, her face lit up and she had sparkles in her eyes. "DREW?! OH MY GOSH!!!" Drew stood up and started edging away from the girl, but she grabbed his hands, much like Harley's style. "I'm Annie, you're _biggest_ fan!" She squealed, making Drew cringe. The worst fangirls were the ones that were older than him, and she had to be at least five years older than he was.

"Annie! We don't have time for this!" Another girl, this one with similar brown eyes, but short white hair in a bob cut, came storming out from the side of the tower.

"But Oakley!" Annie whined, finally letting go of Drew's hands. Drew quickly made his escape, speed-walking away while Annie was distracted, and swinging himself onto a low tree branch and onto a higher one, a trick he'd learn soon after the fangirls started chasing him. Annie turned around, but Drew was gone. She looked around in panic, and Drew tried not to laugh while becoming nervous that she might find him.

"Annie! We have to complete our mission! Now, let's go!" Oakley snapped, before heading into Ecruteak City. Annie pouted, but followed after looking around one more time.

Drew stayed in the tree for a few more minutes, before deciding it was safe to come back down. He landed gracefully and brushed himself off. Glancing towards where Annie had left, and then towards the tower, he decided to explore around the tower a bit more, just to be sure to put a little more distance between himself and Annie.

"Roselia, c'mon out!" He called, releasing Roselia. Roselia glanced around, then ran up and hugged Drew's legs. After Roselia released Drew, they headed into the Burned Tower. "Just a few minutes." Roselia nodded, then started twirling around inside the open area of the Burned Tower. Drew started walking around, admiring the ruins with interest, trying to imagine what it had originally looked like. He rounded a corner, listening to Roselia giggling from her little game. A shadow shot past, almost knocking Drew back. Reaching out to catch himself, he accidentally hit one of the crumbling walls and a piece of it fell out as he fell down.

"What was that?" He said quietly to himself. Drew sat up, rubbing his hand where it had been scrapped by the wall. Suddenly, the shadow was in front of Drew. Two eyes stared at him, even with him now that he was now on the ground. He watched it cautiously, not wanting to startle whatever it was. The eyes blinked, and then it started moving forward. A red paw hit the sunlight first, followed by an ear, then the rest of the head and another red paw. Finally, it stepped out completely, twitching all five of it's tails. The vulpix stopped, standing pristinely in front of Drew.

"A vulpix? Wait, don't vulpix usually have six tails?" The vulpix twitched it's tail again, as if to say "what about it?" Drew watched it carefully, trying not to scare it away, and reached into his pocket for some pokéblock. He pulled out one of his own recipe, that all his pokemon loved, and held it out to the vulpix.

The vulpix stretched it's neck out and sniffed the air, trying not to move it's paws. Slowly, it came forward and gently picked up the pokéblock with it's teeth, before quickly retreating to the edge of the shadow and eating it. Drew used the time to sit up properly to watch the vulpix. Meanwhile, Roselia came over to Drew to see what he was up to, sitting on the ground instead of wondering around. She opened her mouth to talk, but Drew noticed her and quickly clapped a hand over her mouth and shook his head. With his other hand, he pointed to the vulpix.

Roselia's eyes lit up. They didn't have a fire-type on their team, and the vulpix was beautiful, perfect for contests. She jumped up on one of the short, stronger walls, and laid down to watch the vulpix with Drew, kicking her little feet childishly and holding her head up with her roses. The vulpix finished the pokéblock and walked curiously towards Drew. Slowly, Drew held out a hand, and the vulpix stiffened, ready to run away. When he didn't do anything else, the vulpix carefully came forward again and sniffed his hand. After a few tense moments of sniffing, it rubbed Drew's hand and made a sound similar to purring, while softly calling it's name. Drew stoked it softly, before standing up to leave. The vulpix watched him stand up and rubbed on his legs. Drew looked down at it. He leaned down and patted it's head.

"We've gotta go to the contest." He said, giving it one last pat on the head. The vulpix sat down and watched them leave, before disappearing once more into the shadows.

_

* * *

Notes:_

'_1 – I have absolutely no idea what aromatherapy really looks like. If I remember correctly, Sweet Scent is kind of like a pink dust cloud, and I thought aromatherapy would be similar, but in a different colour. _

_If anyone's wondering what Katrina looks like, go to bulbapedia. bulbagarden. net and type in "Katrina (Kanto)". Or just copy and paste:  
__http://archives. bulbagarden. net/w/upload/a/ac/Katrina. jpg__  
(Remove the 4 spaces first. the spaces are there so it wouldn't disappear.)  
_

_

* * *

A/N: Sorry this is late, but I'm done with my classes for now, so I'll have some time to work on the next few chapters. Drew isn't too OOC, is he? I was really worried about that while writing this, but decided that he would probably act kind of like that when he's by himself or with just Roselia. I wrote about five different beginnings for this before I finally settled on this one and finished writing the chapter. How's the appeal? It was literally impromptu. I hadn't planned on having an appeal in this chapter, but when I wrote up to that part, I imagined an appeal taking place, and ended up loving it. I really hope to have chapter 5 finished by next week. And if I do, be ready for a surprise on Christmas. Advanced Critique STRONGLY Encouraged._


	5. Chapter 5

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

**

* * *

Chapter 5**

May giggled as Raichu devoured another sandwich. She'd only eaten about six herself, but Raichu was on it's tenth. Katrina was still slowly nibbling away at her second, content with eating just enough food to fill her up. May turned to Katrina.

"I can't believe Drew's your little brother! You two are so different. I wonder why he never mentioned you before."

Katrina nodded, swallowing the last of her sandwich. "Well, I don't really mention him a lot either, but you would have found out eventually anyway, so I brought it up."

May tilted her head in confusion. "Why don't you talk about each other?"

After brushing the crumbs off her hands, Katrina signaled Raichu over and started walking back to the worksite. "I guess because…We don't want people to compare us. I mean, he's a famous coordinator, and I'm a successful actress and trainer."

May gasped. "You're an actress?!"

Katrina winked. "Yup. Well, actually, Raichu's the star. I've only been in one movie myself, and it wasn't exactly a lead role." May looked at Raichu, who was eating the last sandwich happily. "Usually, Raichu and I just work with the technicians and special effects crew."

May looked at Katrina in awe. "Wow, that sounds so amazing!"

Katrina laughed. "It really is. We started a few years ago, when Raichu auditioned to be in a romance film."

"Did he get the part?" May asked.

Katrina shook her head. "Nah, almost all of the auditioning pokemon backed out because the star was a real diva. A wigglytuff in need of a serious attitude adjustment, but an amazing pokemon actress." Katrina giggled, remembering how the auditions went. "A psyduck ended up with the part, because it was too dense to back off when all the others did. It belonged to a trainer named Misty, a water-type gym leader, if I remember correctly." _'1_

May gasped. "I know Misty! Wait, does that mean you know Ash and Brock too?"

Katrina thought for a moment. "Yeah. Ash's pikachu auditioned, and Brock's vulpix, but I only meet them that one day. I haven't seen them since, except one time when I saw Ash on TV at the Hoenn league."

"I traveled with them for a while. That was after Misty went back to the gym though, but I did meet her once."

Katrina nodded thoughtfully, then stopped walking. "Well, we should probably get back to work now."

May looked around in surprise. Their short walk had taken them back to the incomplete building, where everyone was getting back into sync with their jobs. Raichu ran off to help the other electric pokemon, and Katrina turned to continue her previous job. She turned around and walked backwards, winking at May and holding up her hand to wave. "Later, Maybelle."

May waved back, watching as Katrina ran over to Phillipe and high-fived him while strapping on her helmet one-handed. May quickly strapped her own helmet back on and ran off to her job. Her pokemon had gone to eat lunch with most of the other working pokemon, at a sort-of pokemon food buffet that had been set-up for them, so she whistled to call them back and check on them. Eevee and Blaziken came running from one direction, while Squirtle and Ivysaur ran to her from nearby.

"Ok guys, ready to get back to work?" Each of her pokemon called out it's respective name.

_(beginning music in You and Me and Pokemon) '2_

May pumped her fist in the air enthusiastically. "Let's go!"

_A magic feeling  
__It's grown so strong  
__Always leads me  
To a place where I belong_

Katrina and May ended up in the same work-group, taking long planks of logs to wherever they were needed. May's Eevee wasn't much help, so he was following them around, occasionally carrying small tools to the workers. Katrina laughed as Eevee tried desperately to carry a very heavy power-drill, before a machop came over and took it instead, giving Eevee a small bucket of screws to carry instead. Eevee happily bounced along behind it, pausing whenever someone needed a screw from the bucket.

_Won't go away  
Never let me down  
I've got the greatest friends  
That ever could be found_

Trainers and coordinators alike were running all over the place, trying to finish the contest hall quickly before continuing on their journey. Around a hundred human volunteers were bringing supplies to the construction crew, supervising the younger or less experienced volunteers, divvying out tasks or doing odd little jobs to help move things along faster.

_Across every river  
Behind every tree  
On top of every mountain  
They're a part of you and me_

Cattie waved to May as their groups passed. May made the mistake of waving back, almost dropping the board she and Katrina were carrying. Katrina and Cattie laughed while May pouted and held her end of the board more firmly. Beside Cattie was a girl with dark brown hair in a tight fishtail braid that fell to her lower back, her dark green eyes watching the other three in amusement. She said something to Cattie, who thought for a moment, laughed, and high-fived the other girl.

_(One world!) One world, now and forever  
(Best friends!) Best friends, loyal and true  
(One dream!) One dream, put side by side  
There's nothing we can't do_

All over the place, pokemon of all types were running and flying about. A small team of mostly flying and water types were going around helping keep everyone cool. Squirtle and Ivysaur were with them. The flying pokemon created cool, light breezes, while the water pokemon created a mist for anyone who needed it. Ivysaur was carrying a bucket filled with cups, bowls, and a container of soup. Every now and then, Squirtle would use water gun on a cup or bowl for anyone who needed a drink, cups for humans, bowls for most of the pokemon.

_(One hand!) One hand, helping the other  
(Each heart!) Each heart, beating as one  
(We live!) We live, always together  
__Sharing the same bright sun  
You & me & Pokemon_

Harley appeared out of seemingly nowhere next to May, startling her. The cup of water in her hand jerked away and splashed all over Harley's cacturne suit. Harley's face turned red and he started yelling at May. Katrina started to come over and scold him, while May apologized, but Phillipe got there first, standing beside Harley. He calmly said something, and Harley turned on him instead, but almost immediately backed off and ran away.

_They rush like water  
They soar like the wind  
They're always with me  
Every day that I begin_

The sun was low in the sky, creating an orange glow over the construction site. Many of the workers had already left to make their way home, some having traveled by pokemon from nearby cities and towns simply because they had little else to do and wanted to help. Some of the electric pokemon, including Raichu, were going around hold special devices that acted like large spotlights and were powered by the electricity from the pokemon. Most of the devices, which were simply large and round, about two feet in diameter, were powered by two pokemon, each one holding one of the two handles. Some smaller lights could be powered by one pokemon, and were strapped onto their backs. Raichu had one of the smaller ones and was following Phillipe and Harley around, both of which were helping to hammer and screw boards together.

_They burn like fire  
They chill like ice  
They take on any challenge  
Make any sacrifice_

May, Katrina and Phillipe waved good-bye to some of the new friends, and walked to a nearby restaurant to have dinner. Phillipe watched May slurping down bowl after bowl of ramen, and Katrina laughed at the face he was making. After they were finished eating, the returned to the pokecenter, handed their pokemon to the Chansey on duty, and went to their room. May and Katrina kicked Phillipe out while they changed, and then they all went to sleep, after a short debate between Katrina and Phillipe about the pros and cons of a balanced team.

_Across every river  
Behind every tree  
On top of every mountain  
They're a part of you and me_

The next morning, the building looked more like a building. The framework had been finished that morning, and with the combined help of all the volunteers and the paid workers, the building's walls were roughly completed and the roof was nearly finished as well. Most of the volunteers were either spotting the workers, who were finishing the dome-shaped roof, or were starting to paint the outside of the building.

_(One world!) One world, now and forever  
(Best friends!) Best friends, loyal and true  
(One dream!) One dream, put side by side  
There's nothing we can't do_

May dropped her paintbrush and ducked behind Katrina as Harley walked past again. Katrina pretending that nothing had happened, giggling at May as soon as Harley was gone. May exhaled in relief and jumped back to her paintbrush, almost knocking over Phillipe while doing so. Raichu and Eevee were playing around with the paintbrushes, pretending the brushes were swords, mostly because they couldn't reach high enough to help paint, but also because they were bored.

_(One hand!) One hand, helping the other  
(Each heart!) Each heart, beating as one  
(We live!) We live, always together  
__Sharing the same bright sun  
You & me & Pokemon_

Cattie was sitting on Blaziken's shoulders, painting the columns near the entrance to the hall. Blaziken watched in interest as many of the workers brought in all the benches and the cushions and started putting them in place and attaching everything. The inside of the hall was beginning to look pale green, Olivine City's colour, while the outside was becoming a snowy white colour. The dome top wasn't quite finished yet, but it was painted pale blue where it had been finished. The center was being carefully put together by the experienced workers, designed to be able to open wide on clear days.

_(One world!) One world  
(Best friends!) Best friends  
Loyal and true  
(One dream!) Just one dream  
There's nothing we can't do_

May skipped around, enjoying her lunch break. Katrina, Cattie, Phillipe, the brown-haired girl from the day before, Hero, and Hero's boyfriend, Thor, were all enjoying their salads while watching May skip around, playing games with the pokemon. Harley appeared as May spun around and grabbed her hands, talking excitedly to her. May tried to break his grip subtly while greeting him back. Katrina laughed, while Cattie and Hero simply looked amused. Thor seemed a little confused, but also a bit amused as well. Phillipe seemed to be ignoring them, until he got up and dusted his hands off. Walking over to Harley, he forcefully grabbed the older boy around the waist, dragged him off, dumped him on the ground, returned to the group, and started eating his sandwich again. The others looked at him, most of them slightly shocked, while Katrina acted like nothing happened and May thanked him.

_(One world!) One world, now and forever  
(Best friends!) Best friends, loyal and true  
(One dream!) One dream, put side by side  
There's nothing we can't do_

A few hours later, everyone was gathered in the main room of the contest hall, painting the last details. Almost every coordinator had left, trying to get in some last minute training before the contest, and the trainers were randomly leaving to either battle Jasmine or watch others battle her. She had left at lunchtime to re-open her gym for battles. Many of the pokemon had been called back and sent to the pokecenter for a well-deserved rest, but the remaining pokemon were mostly flying types, creating gusts of wind to help the paint dry faster.

_(One hand!) One hand, helping the other  
(Each heart!) Each heart, beating as one  
(We live!) We live, always together  
Sharing the same bright sun  
You & me & Pokemon_

May added the last detail to the red rose design she was working on, before placing the paintbrush back in the bucket and sitting down on a bench beside Katrina.

"Phew! Finally finished! I can't wait for tomorrow! My first contest in Johto." She smiled, then tilted her head in thought. "I wonder which pokemon I should use?"

Katrina was watching the sunset. "I think you should use Squirtle for the appeals."

"Really?" May thought about it. "Hmm. Good idea. Any reason why though?"

Katrina shrugged. "Olivine City is right at the ocean, so a lot of people will avoid using water types because of it, but it creates an advantage. Well, I guess it's not much of an advantage for you, since you'll be inside, but even so…"

May nodded. "Ok, then, Squirtle for the appeals! And.." She thought another moment. "I think I'll use Blaziken for the battles."

The two sat in silence for awhile, watching as the sun sank lower into the sky. When it was almost behind the buildings, Katrina stood up. "Well, we should head back to the pokecenter. They're having a small party to celebrate finishing the contest hall." A moment later, when she didn't have a response, she looked down at May.

May was asleep on the bench, sitting up with her head lolling to one side. Katrina sighed, not wanting to wake her, but she couldn't let May sleep outside. Spotting Phillipe nearby, she called him over. "Hey! Phillipe! Can you come here for a sec?"

Phillipe walked over and looked at her curiously.

Katrina gestured towards May. "Could you help me carry sleeping beauty here to the pokecenter?"

He nodded and scooped May up in his arms. Katrina heard May mumble something that sounded oddly like "Drew" as her eyes flickered open for a split second, but she fell back asleep quickly and Phillipe carried her back to the pokecenter. Katrina tucked May in, not bothering to wake her up to tell her to change into her pajamas.

"'Night, Maybelle. You'll see Drew soon." She whispered, before silently leaving the room to join the party. _'3_

_

* * *

Notes:_

'_1 – This is a reference to the episode where Katrina meet Ash, Brock, and Misty. I can't remember what episode it is, but I think it's in season one.  
_

'_2 – This is the version from Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown soundtrack, not the one in Pokemon Heroes._

'_3 – If I wrote this correctly, the contest that will take place in Olivine (the day after the end of this chapter), should happen a day after Drew's contest in Ecruteak. _

_

* * *

A/N: _

_Thanks for the reviews everyone! I was surprised by how many new reviews I had in just 24 hours. Instead of replying to them individually, I'll answer them here, in case anyone else has similar ponderings and didn't mention them._

_To absolra:_

_Pokemon names are nouns, but they aren't proper nouns. I only see fit to capitalize the names of specific pokemon, like Drew's Roselia and Flygon and such. They other pokemon, like a sentret playing or the vulpix, are just like say the cat playing or the fox, they aren't proper nouns, so they don't need to be capitalized. Hope that clears things up a bit. Thanks for the insight. It's much appreciated._

_To Kimba616:_

_I completely forgot that they were in jail at the end of that movie. I'll explain it later in the story. Thanks for reminding me._

_To kagomesbutterflyfeeling:_

_Oakley's hair _is_ blue, but it's a kind of blue-white colour, so I just went with white instead. _

_Don't worry, Drew will capture Vulpix, in time. _

_I'm really sorry this is late. My computer had some sort of malware, and we had to delete everything and re-install it all. I was able to save all my files beforehand , but I had a lot to catch up on before I could upload this. And apparently, it wasn't complete. I hadn't written the end of the chapter before my computer "crashed" so to speak. The next two should be up pretty quickly, at least compared to how slowly I normally update. Detailed reviews are extremely helpful whenever I get stuck, even if they're just detailed praise or constructive criticism, so the more the better. As always, Advanced Critique STRONGLY Encouraged. (Just a reminder, I rarely ever read my oneshots/chapters between when I start writing them and when I finally finish and upload them, so please let me know anything and everything that can be fixed/improved upon. Thank you.)_


	6. Chapter 6

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

**

* * *

Chapter 6 **_'1_

"And now, the first contest of this season in the Johto region! Are you ready?!" A voice called out. The audience screamed enthusiastically. "Alright-y!" The owner of the voice finally appeared, twirling onto the stage. "I'm Caspian! Emcee of the Johto region!" Caspian looked similar to the emcees of Hoenn, Kanto, and Sinnoh, except that her hair was a much lighter blonde and her beauty mark was just to the left side of her mouth.

Her outfit was bright red, with some orange markings. She wore a bright red tank top, sleeveless, with an orange sheer lining on the bottom, just barely covering half of her otherwise bare stomach. Below that, she wore a pair of bright red shorts with splotches of orange artistically covering it. On her feet were a pair of small, bright red shoes, and her hands bore orange gloves with red cuffs. Her headset was also specially designed, orange with a dark red microphones. Around her waist was a dark red belt, on which were six pokeballs, and beside her stood a large Raticate.

Drew was backstage, in the coordinator's lounge, waiting for his turn. He was surrounded by other coordinators, most of which seemed young, and new to the world of coordinating. He didn't recognize any of them, although one individual caught his eye, because of the person's unique appearance. The boy was about the same age as Drew, perhaps a year or two older, with had dark, almost black, skin. His starch white hair framed his face as he watched the screen in the middle of the room. A few of the girls in the room were trying to catch Drew's eye, but most of those seemed too scared to actually approach him. The others, although probably Drew's fangirls as well, were too busy shaking as they waited for their turn to go on-stage for the first time.

Caspian threw her arms out wide. "And now, our first contestant, Biff!" The crowd cheered, even though they had no idea who Biff was.

"It's BUTCH!" A voice called out. A moment later, a guy with short aqua-green hair popped up. He tossed a pokeball into the air, and a simple beam of red light came out, growing and transforming to reveal a large cloyster. "Cloyster, use double team, followed by bubblebeam!"

Cloyster called out its name before performing a double team attack across the stage. It looked like there were eight cloysters in a circle on the stage, faintly connecting by a constant blur between them. While keeping up the double team attack, it performed a bubblebeam, sending bubbles out in every direction from the circle.

"Faster!" It speed up noticeably, and the bubbles shot out so fast, it appeared to form a small bright blue whirlwind.

"Stop double team and use spikes and ice beam together!" Cloyster stopped, appearing the center of where it had been. The whirlwind of bubbles continued spinning, slowly down as the bubblebeam attack ended. Some of the audience giggled as a few stray bubbles popped overhead. Cloyster spun in a circle, shooting out spikes and covering them with ice using the ice beam attack. The spikes pelted into the bubbles, misting everyone and everything below. Once it was finished, Cloyster stopped spinning and faced the audience, Butch suddenly appearing beside it.

Butch held out the pokeball to withdraw Cloyster, then bowed to the audience as they began cheering, as though he had almost forgotten. Withdrawing Cloyster, he swiftly walked backstage. Caspian twirled to center-stage again. "Wow! What a performance! Let's see what our judges say!"

Nurse Joy smiled brightly, as she always did. "Dazzling." An eight appeared on her screen.

The second judge was Robert, the winner of the ribbon cup in Hoenn. He looked thoughtful. A seven appeared on his screen and he nodded towards Butch.

The third judge was a blonde girl, about twenty years old, her hair in thick curls and her blue eyes bright with excitement. "Oh wow! That was so pretty!" She giggled as a nine appeared on the screen.

"Well, there are the results!" Caspian said. "And now our next contestant! This is his first time in a contest, let's give it up for Driz!"

Driz appeared near the edge of the stage. His long white hair framed his face, in sharp contrast to his dark skin, but his lavender eyes were bright with confidence. Silently, he tossed his pokeball into the air. A beam of red light shot out, quickly forming into a Sableye.

"Shadow Sneak." Sableye's gems, including it's eyes, glowed a purple-black colour. Suddenly, a the stage darkened as Sableye's shadow grew and spread over the entire stage.

Driz nodded in approval. "Shadow Ball and Claw." Sableye began to form a giant shadow ball, drawing in the large shadow it had just created. It tossed it high into the air, and then jumped after it and performed a Shadow Claw attack, shattering the ball in mid-air. The ball exploded, and the audience gasped.

As the air cleared, it revealed Driz to be standing in the center of the stage, Sableye safely balancing on his head. Driz bowed, with Sableye jumping down before falling off and bowing as well. The audience clapped and whistled while the two calmly walked off-stage.

Caspian jumped to the center. "Let's see what the judges say!" She gestured dramatically to the judges, her hair bouncing around her.

Nurse Joy spoke first, an ever-persistent smile on her face. "How dark!" An eight appeared on her screen.

Robert nodded as his turn came. "An excellent use of Sableye's dark abilities. Such a wonderful display of shadow attacks." A nine appeared.

Sarah was practically jumping out of her seat with excitement. She giggled. "He's cute." A ten appeared on her screen. "And that performance was really amazing! I don't really like dark pokemon, but Driz made me realize how powerful and beautiful they can be."

Caspian took center-stage again. "Wow, what amazing scores! And now, are next contestant!"

A young girl, obviously new to the world of coordinating, walked timidly onto the stage, her long blonde hair pulled into a loose ponytail to the side. She gulped visibly when she saw the audience, as her bright pink eyes grew wide with stage fright.

Drew watched the appeals from the coordinator's lounge, standing confidently in the middle of the room, slightly to the back. He didn't seem to care about the appeals, but in his head, he was taking notes of all the best parts of each appeal. A girl in the back of the room was watching him silently, debating, her short orange hair falling to her shoulders in thick waves, with off stiff places from where it was usually pulled into a side ponytail. She kept whispering to the boy beside her, her green eyes curious. The boy beside her seemed mostly un-interested, running his fingers through his spiky brown hair. After a couple more appeals, Drew finally heard his name.

Caspian twirled in the center of the stage. "And now, famous coordinator, Drew!"

Drew walked onto the stage, smirking as all his fangirls started screaming. "Roselia, take the stage!" Drew called, before almost wincing as he realized he'd used May's signature release phrase. Roselia appeared from the red beam, twirling dramatically and calling it's name.

"Sweet Scent and Aromatherapy!" He called, remembering his appeal in the meadow. Roselia laughed, also thinking about the previous appeal, and realizing immediately what Drew would ask her to do. She twirled around, spinning faster and faster, sending out waves of the pink dust of Sweet Scent and the blue powder of Aromatherapy. The audience was awed at the beautiful blend of the pink and blue particles.

"Petal Dance and Toxic Spikes." Roselia thought for barely a moment, figuring out how to pull off the new combo. Roselia spun in slow circles, releasing a calm petal dance before the particles from the previous combo fell to the ground. Immediately after finishing the petal dance, so flawlessly the two attacks seemed to blend together, Roselia started the Toxic Spikes attack. The spikes shot out before the petals were more than an inch away, spearing all the petals. The audience cheered as the speared petals burst into a purple mist.

Roselia bowed as Drew flicked his hair. They calmly walked off the stage as Caspian ran to the center. "And let's go to the judges!"

"What a sparkling performance!" She said. A nine appeared on her screen.

"Wouldn't expect anything less from Drew." Robert said in approval. Another nine appeared on his screen.

"Wow! _The_ Drew!" Sarah said with dreamy eyes, a ten appearing on her screen. "And that appeal! Roselia is so adorable!"

Drew waited backstage, trying not to gag at Sarah's enthusiasm about him rather than Roselia's performance. Another new coordinator came on stage next. Behind Drew, the orange-haired girl was waiting impatiently, tapping her foot, her friend no longer beside her.

Finally, it was time for the last appeal. Caspian was practically jumping with joy. "And for the final appeal of the day, I'm proud to present, Misty! The water gym leader from Cerulean City in the Kanto region!" A wild applause began as an orange-haired girl ran on the stage, the same one who had been watching Drew.

"Hi everyone!" She yelled happily to the crowd. She expertly tossed a pokeball high into the air. "Come on out, Dewgong!" The beam of red light grew larger and larger, finally forming a large dewgong in the center of the stage.

"Ok, Dewgong, use Icy Wind!" Dewgong immediately opened it's mouth, releasing a cold frost around the stage, tinting everything a bright white.

"Ice Shard, then Icicle Spear!" Dewgong released a powerful ice shard attack, spitting large chunks of ice in the air over the audience, before spearing them with it's icicle spear attack. A mist showered over the audience, forming beads of water on everything and everyone.

"Finish with Ice Beam!" Dewgong powered up, then released a strong Ice Beam into the sky, clearing the air of the Icy Wind. Misty curtsied as Dewgong bowed it's head. The crowd cheered while they ran off-stage, Misty blowing kisses.

Caspian skipped onto the stage. "And that's the final appeal! Judges?"

"It was so cold and icy, yet filled with warmth and love." A ten appeared on her screen.

Robert nodded, as he had with Drew. "The appeal truly shows how much experience Misty has with her pokemon, and had a trainer's edge to it." A nine appeared on the screen.

Sarah waited eagerly, obviously annoyed that she was always last. "Oh my gosh! That was amazing! Misty, you're just…like, so cool! Dewgong is adorable!" She squealed. "Can we be friends?" A ten appeared on her screen.

Caspian ignored Sarah's childish enthusiasm. "Now let's look to the screen to see which four will move on to the next round." She turned around and gestured to the screen. Four boxes appeared, then flipped one at a time to show the continuing coordinators. The first box twirled around to show Misty, followed by Drew, Driz, and finally Butch. "And there they are! Come back tomorrow for the semi-final battles!"

Drew left the building secretly, avoiding his fangirls. He made his way back to the pokecenter, thinking about the appeals. Before he had walked even a hundred yards from the contest hall, he was stopped by a shadow appearing in front of him. The shadow looked masculine, and young, only a few years older than him. Suddenly, another shadow, this one female, appeared beside the first. Drew's first thought was another Team Rocket group and he carefully inched his fingers towards his pokeballs.

The two figures stepped out of the shadows, and Drew relaxed, recognizing Misty from earlier. The other boy he remembered glimpsing in the coordinator's lounge, with brown spiky hair. Up close, he realized the boy had black eyes. Misty walked up to Drew first, the boy just behind her.

"Hi, Drew!" She said happily. "I'm Misty, and this is Gary, Ash's rival."

Drew glanced at Gary. "Ash's rival? I've never seen you before. Did Ash beat you that badly?"

Gary snorted, before replying, just as arrogantly as Drew. "Of course not. I always beat Ashy-boy. When he went on to Hoenn, while I left for Sinnoh to research pokemon like my gramps."

"So why are you here?" Drew asked, becoming more curious.

"Misty called in a favor. I have plenty of free time, and Misty wants to compete in Johto contests, so I'm her partner." Gary said, seeming a bit bored. "I'm still studying in Sinnoh, but I'll have to come to Johto every now and then to compete in contests so Misty can get to the Grand Festival."

"Partner?" Drew asked, surprised.

"Yeah, some of the contests in Johto, including the Grand Festival, are doubles. You need a partner or you can't compete."

"Really?" Drew hadn't heard about it before. He shrugged. "Well, I'll deal with it when I get to one."

Misty had been watching the two the whole time, somewhat surprised that their arrogant personalities hadn't clashed yet. Finally, she cut in. "So where's May?"

Drew blinked. "Why would I know where May is?"

Misty gave him a lopsided look and raised her eyebrow. "Because you're…" She stopped, catching herself. "Never mind. If she's not here, she must still be in Olivine. Oh well, see you later Drew, let's go Gary."

Drew watched them leave, wondering what Misty had been about to say. After a couple minutes, he just shook his head and continued on, eventually reaching the pokecenter. His pokemon were still in good shape, so he simply went straight to his room and went to sleep.

The next morning, Drew got up early to train with Absol for awhile, then headed to the contest hall, arriving within ten minutes of the start of the second round.

"First up, Driz versus Drew!" Caspian called out, before skipping off the field. Drew and Driz took their places. "Release your pokemon."

Drew dramatically called a pokeball into the air. "Go, Absol!" On the other hand, Driz tossed his pokeball silently, releasing a Sneasel.

"Wow, two dark types! Ok, coordinators, ready? And…Start!" Caspian walked offstage as soon as she finished, disappearing into the shadows.

"Quick Attack!" Both voices called. Sneasel and Absol immediately obeyed, but merely bounced off one another. Each coordinator lost a couple points.

"Shadow Ball!" They both called again. Both pokemon jumped back and released a large shadow ball. The two attacks meet in mid-air and exploded, knocking both the pokemon and the trainers back a few inches. Again, they each lost some points.

Caspian suddenly appeared beside the stage. "It seems our two coordinators are evenly matched!"

For a second, Drew and Driz stared at one another, but time was against them.

"Ice Shard." Driz called.

At the same time, Drew gave his command. "Razor Wind."

The two well-trained pokemon responded immediately. Absol jumped back and jerked it's head around, releasing a powerful Razor Wind attack from the blue sickle jutting oddly from it's head. Simultaneously, Sneasel pulled it's claws back, quickly releasing an Ice Shard attack. The sharp spears of ice flew through the air, cutting through the Razor Wind attack, but not destroying it. Absol dodged, missing the majority of the ice, but was still hit by a few. Sneasel, on the other hand, couldn't dodge fast enough and was hit by the full power of the Razor Wind. Both coordinators lost a few more points, but Drew was just barely ahead.

"Only two minutes left on the clock!" Caspian said enthusiastically, re-appearing from the shadows again.

"Absol, Double Team and Bite!" Drew called quickly.

"Metal Claw." Driz said calmly as Drew called his attack.

Absol quickly performed a Double Team attack, multiple absols appearing in a line where Drew's Absol had been, faintly connected by a blur. Sneasel watched, preparing it's metal claw attack, it's entire paws glowing a bright white. Time was running out, and both pokemon had to attack. They rushed forward at the same time, Absol breaking it's Double Team attack as it did so.

Absol bit down on Sneasel as Sneasel's claws hit it. Absol held it's grip while Sneasel clawed at it. Both coordinator's watched, precious few seconds remaining on the clock.

"Ice Beam!" They both called. The two pokemon jumped back and quickly prepared their ice beam attacks, Sneasel building the energy between it's paws while Absol did the same using it's mouth. Sneasel thrust it's paws forward, but was a split-second too slow as Absol side-stepped to dodge it while it released it's own Ice Beam attack.

Driz lost a lot of points, although not quite all, because of the hit. Before the two could call more attacks, the clock buzzed to signal time was up. Driz sighed, knowing the outcome even as Caspian re-appeared and walked to the edge of the stage.

"And the winner is…" Caspian said dramatically. On the screen, Driz's picture disappeared and Drew's grew larger. "Drew!" The audience applauded wildly, and Drew's fangirls screamed. Driz and Drew shook hands. Flicking his hair, Drew recalled Absol and walked off the stage, Driz and Sneasel just ahead of him.

Caspian watched them leave, then turned to face the audience. "For the next battle, Misty versus Bob!"

"It's Butch! Butch!!" A voice called as the two trainers walked onto the stage, Butch fuming and Misty smiling and waving to the cheering crowd.

Butch tossed a pokeball to the field angrily, making it hit with a loud clunk. A beam of red light released a dizzy Mightyena. "Go for it, Mightyena!"

Misty, on the other hand, gracefully twirled around and tossed her pokeball into the air. "C'mon out, Corsola!" She said enthusiastically.

Caspian looked between the two coordinators. "Ready, start the clock!" She said, before walking off-stage again.

The instant the clock started counting down, the coordinators gave their commands.

"Corsola, Bubblebeam!" Misty called fiercely.

"Use Iron Tail, Mightyena!" Butch yelled.

Corsola called it's name as it prepared the attack, then released a surge of bubbles towards Mightyena, hitting it full-on, as it prepared it's Iron Tail attack. Butch lost a few points, but Mightyena broke Corsola's attack by rushing sideways and attacking with Iron Tail from the side. Corsola slid across the field, causing Misty to lose more points than Butch.

"Corsola!" Misty called, worried. When Corsola got up and called it's name, she relaxed for a moment, before a determined look swept across her face. "Rock Tomb!"

"Mightyena, Hyper Beam!" Butch called quickly.

Rocks began appearing all around Corsola, and started hurling themselves at Mightyena, enclosing it in a sort of cavern beneath them. As soon as the tomb was finished, it collapsed on Mightyena, causing Butch to lose a few points. At the same moment the tomb collapsed, Mightyena finished charging it's Hyper Beam attack, releasing the beam of power through the rocks, and freeing itself. Because it had been trapped, Mightyena's attack missed Corsola, but Misty lost a few points because of the beauty of the attack. Misty had a few more points than Butch, and the clock read "2:30."

"Bite!" Butch yelled harshly.

"Harden, then Spike Cannon, Corsola!" Misty called out expertly.

Corsola shone as it used it's Harden defense. Mightyena ran forward and bite down hard on Corsola, but immediately let go, howling in pain, a chipped tooth visible to the judges, and Butch's points went down more. Corsola released it's Spike Cannon attack, shooting spikes towards Mightyena. Surprisingly, the attack didn't knockout Mightyena, but it cost Butch the last of his points, with just less than one minute left on the clock.

The audience was silent for a moment, processing the end of the battle. Then the cheering and whistling began. Butch returned Mightyena, fuming, and starting storming off the stage, bumping into Caspian as he did so. Misty wasn't watching, as she was hugging Corsola and laughing.

"And the winner is…Misty!" Caspian cried passionately. The audience cheered again as Misty got up and waved to them, before running off the stage to the coordinator's lounge. "The two trainers competing in the finals will be Misty and Drew! Let's get started! Coordinators?" She turned, waiting for Misty and Drew to come back on-stage for the final battle.

Backstage, Misty and Drew prepared to walk out on the stage. Misty turned to Drew.

"Good luck, may the better coordinator win!" She held out her hand, and Drew shook it. "Of course, it'll be me." She teased, laughing. Her laugh was light and friendly.

Drew smirked, flicking his hair. "You wish." Misty just smiled. They walked out to the stage to wild applause, and a few squeals from Drew's fangirls.

Caspian twirled around one final time. "Coordinators, ready?" Misty and Drew took their places. "The clock starts when both pokemon have been released! Start!"

Drew tossed a pokeball into the air. "Absol, take the stage!" The beam of red light formed into an absol.

"Go, Corsola!" Misty called, releasing her own pokemon from the pokeball in her hand.

"Time starts now!" Caspian called from the side of the stage, as the clock started counting down.

"Corsola, Spike Cannon!" Misty called quickly.

"Dodge! Razor Wind!" Drew commanded.

Corsola cried it's name, then released a spike cannon towards Absol, but it jumped high into the air, above the attack. As soon as it was high enough, it swung it's head around, releasing a razor wind from the scythe on it's head. The strong force of wind hit Corsola head-on, knocking it back several feet. Misty's point meter decreased.

"Bubblebeam!" Misty yelled, a determined look on her face.

"Quick Attack!" Drew called. He had been about to call the attack Bite, but remembered how that had ended in the earlier battle.

Absol moved faster, rushing forward swiftly, reaching Corsola at the same moment it released it's bubblebeam attack. Corsola's attack was powerful enough to knock Absol back, were it not for Absol's momentum from it's own attack. Absol lost it's balance and slid across the floor, sliding into Corsola, who was still performing it's bubblebeam attack. The collision surprised Corsola, causing it to end it's attack. The two slid across the field almost to Misty's feet.

"Corsola!" "Absol!" The two trainers called to their respectively pokemon, worried.

The pokemon stood up and shook themselves off, and Absol ran back to Drew's side of the field. Misty visibly relaxed, while Drew silently breathed a sigh of relief. He glanced at the clock, which only had just over one minute left, and watched for a moment as both he and Misty lost a lot of points. Drew lost more because Absol had fallen. He made a mental note to work with Absol on it's balance while being attacked later.

"Water Pulse." Drew called quietly, trying to restore the atmosphere before the odd collision.

Misty recovered as soon as Drew called the next attack. "Mirror Coat!" She called hurriedly.

A large ball of beautiful blue water appeared in front of Absol, it's mouth open, drawing the energy. The ball turned quickly, spinning in mid-air, and when it was large enough, Absol thrust it forward, sending it whipping across the stage to Corsola. Misty lost a few points. Corsola began shimmering with a Mirror Coat attack.

"Dodge and use Iron Tail!" Drew called quickly. Absol rushed forward. It's Water Pulse attack bounced off Corsola and came flying back towards Absol, but Absol jumped to the side, dodging it. Misty lost points because of the miss, while Drew lost a few because of the beauty of the attack. It's tail began to glow silver and it jumped into the air, attacking Corsola with the Iron Tail attack.

Misty opened her mouth to give another command, when the clock buzzed.

Caspian came back on-stage. "And that's the end of the contest! It's was a close battle, but we can only have one winner!" Everyone look at the screen. Misty's and Drew's points were almost even, then Misty's picture disappeared, as a large red X appeared, and Drew's picture covered the screen, colourful confetti falling around it. "And Drew wins!"

Drew and Misty walked to center-stage and shook hands collegially. Misty smiled and walked off-stage as Drew turned to face Caspian, who presented him with the Ecruteak Ribbon. The ribbon was simple, with only two ribbons coming from the gold oval-shaped clip. The two short ribbons were dark blue with white edges on both sides, but not on the end. _'2_

The audience was cheering loudly, and Drew's fangirls were swooning. He could practically see little pink hearts floating above their heads. He smirked, flicked his hair, and held up two fingers in a peace sign, creating another round of wild applause, then quickly walked off the stage.

"And that concludes today's contest! I hope you had a terrific time! See you all at the next contest! Bye!" Caspian happily waved to the departing crowd, before skipping off the stage.

_

* * *

Notes:_

'_1 – Chapters 6 & 7 are "Contest chapters". In a contest chapter, I will write out 4 appeals and 3 battles, with the exception of the Grand Festival, but that's a long way off, so I'll explain it later. There are more coordinators than the 4 I include obviously. The 3 battles are 2 semi-finals and the finals. All of the contest chapters are going to be a lot longer than the other chapters. Should they be split in half? One chapter for appeals and one for battles? I would prefer to have the entire contest in one chapter. It's a lot longer, but it's easier to include that way. However, I don't mind writing them in separate chapters, so it's up to you guys!_

'_2 – This is based off the design of May's Johto ribbons, shown in the DP episodes she appears in._

_

* * *

A/N:_

_I don't have as much to say about this chapter. Next time, I'll try to have more variety in my appeal styles. So, basically, the designs for the Johto contests (my way) is very different from those of Hoenn, Kanto, and Sinnoh. They still need 5 ribbons to make it to the Grand Festival, but half the contests are doubles, and half are singles. The ribbons, for the most part, are simple. As far as I could tell, the contest ribbons in the other regions were the same design throughout the region, just in different colours and such. (For example, Hoenn's ribbons are shaped like a bow.)_

_Review Replies:_

_nekosoulreaper  
Yes, May will have a dragonair at some point._

_stardreamer87__  
No, Phillipe doesn't have a crush on May. It's more like he's treating her like a little sister. Brendan will appear eventually, but only for a very short time.  
Of course! So far, I have about 40 chapters planned out._

_DigidestinedxPoketrainerxZoey  
Annie and Oakley will do have their chance to cause trouble, just not quite yet._

_

* * *

__Feb. 15th - I started a Contestshipping forum where anyone can discuss anything and everything related to contestshipping. Just remove the () and replace dot with a .  
www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(/)forum(/)Yet(_)More(_)Contestshipping(/)57089(/)_


	7. Chapter 7

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

**

* * *

Chapter 7**

"It's time for Olivine City's First Contest!" Caspian called out to the audience. The sun shone down on her from the opened roof, and everyone started cheering. "Before we begin, let's give a big, warm thanks the workers and trainers who helped finish this contest hall!" The cheering from the hall could be heard throughout the city. "How about another round for all the pokemon!" Caspian smiled as everyone cheered even louder. "Well, let's get the first ever Olivine City pokemon contest underway!!"

"First up, Cattie, from the Kanto region!" Caspian yelled happily, before twirling off the stage as Cattie ran out. She took out a slingshot and used it to fling her pokeball high into the air.

"C'mon out, Pidgeot!" The pokeball opened, over a hundred feet over the stage, and Pidgeot called out it's name as it raced it's pokeball back to the stage, catching it a mere seven feet from the ground and quickly pumping it's powerful wings to slow it's fall.

"Great job!" Cattie called as it's tossed it's pokeball back to her. "Now use Aerial Ace and Steel Wing!" Pidgeot called it's name as it's wings began to glow silver. It pointed towards to sky as a white aura started circling around it's body in a downwards cone shape. Suddenly, it speed off. High above the audience, everyone watched as Pidgeot shot through the clouds, only to reappear a moment later and circle the cloud quickly, changing the shape to resemble an ice cream cone.

"Featherdance!" Cattie yelled as loud as she could. Pidgeot called it's name loudly. A moment later, tons of small, fuzzy down feathers drifted down to the stadium, and all around the contest hall. Pidgeot flew calmly down to the contest hall, twisting and turning just to show off. Once it was closer, it released another Featherdance attack, as many of the previous feathers had been blown off-course by the sea breeze. The audience cheered as the small feathers landed on them and Pidgeot landed on the stage gracefully.

Cattie ran forward to Pidgeot's side and bowed, while the crowd cheered once more. Cattie waved as she returned Pidgeot and ran off-stage, passing Caspian. "Let's see what the judges say!" She said, gesturing to the judges.

Nurse Joy smiled. "Soaring." A nine appeared on her screen.

Robert nodded in approval, another nine appearing on his screen. "Excellent display of Pidgeot's flying abilities."

Sarah giggled. "Wow, those feathers were soft! Pidgeot was so cool!" A ten appeared on her screen.

Caspian turned back to the crowd. "What a great way to start Olivine's first contest! Next is May from Petalburg!"

May ran onto the stage. "Squirtle, take the stage!" She called, twirling around as she tossed a pokeball into the air. Squirtle formed on the stage and called it's name happily as the pokeball flew back to May.

"Ok, Squirtle, use bubble!" The small pokemon puffed it's chest out before releasing a mass of bright blue bubbles high into the air. The crowd awed at the sight as the sunlight hit the spheres, making them sparkle.

"Now ice beam!" Once again, Squirtle puffed out it's chest before beginning the attack. It released the ice beam from it's mouth, capturing many of the bubbles in mid-air, freezing them and causing them to quickly fall and crash, shattering all over the stage, and causing many others to burst in mid-air from the fringes of the beam. The ice shards on the ground reflected the sunlight, casting tiny rainbows around the entire hall.

"Rapid spin!" Squirtle withdrew into it's shell and began spinning, quickly gaining speed. It spiraled out from the center of the stage, sending shards of ice shooting into the air, changing the rainbow reflections and making them dance around the walls. When Squirtle had reach May at the back of the stage, it skidded to a stop and jumped into her arms. May bowed, holding her little squirtle, as the audience began cheering loudly.

Caspian appeared near the edge of the stage. "Wow, what an appeal from May and Squirtle! Judges?" Everyone turned towards the judges.

"Sparkling!" Nurse Joy said happily, a 10 appearing on her screen.

Robert smiled at May. "Still good, May. Your squirtle has come a long way. Excellent way to make use of the entire stage as well." A 9 appeared on his screen.

Sarah had barely contained herself as the other two spoke. Finally her turn, she squealed. "Oh my gosh, that was amazing! Rainbows!" She squealed again, and a 10 appeared on her screen. "Heehee, that was soooo pretty!"

"Let's keep going! Let's welcome, Hero, a trainer turned coordinator from right here in Olivine City!" Caspian called out.

An eevee ran out onto the stage, jumped a few feet into the air and flipped forward, landing perfectly on one of it's front paws, balancing. As it landed, Hero walked onto the stage behind it, her skirt swaying lightly from a breeze in the open hall. _'3_

"Ok, Eevee, ready?" Hero called out. Eevee cried it's name happily to confirm. "Alright, let's kick it off with Charm and Attract!" Once again, Eevee called out it's name, then dozens of bright pink hearts, along with some larger orange hearts, appeared around it and began floating away towards the audience.

"Swift!" Eevee braced itself and opened it's mouth. Yellow stars shot out, mixing in with the hearts, but not bursting them.

"Great job! Let's finish up with Quick Attack and Double-Edge!" Eevee ran forward and leaped into the air above the audience. It started to glow bright white, and zipped around attacking the hearts, bouncing off the backs of the seats when it needed to. Finally, all the hearts had burst, and Eevee landed, the last of the sparkles falling onto the audience. Hero took a bow with her Eevee, waved, and they skipped off-stage.

Caspian walked onto the stage. "Judges?"

Nurse Joy looked as happy as always. "Heartfelt." A 10 appeared on her screen.

Robert seemed satisfied. "Although it was a bit short, it definitely showed the beauty of normal-type attacks." A 9 appeared on his screen.

Sarah was bouncy as always. "Oh my gosh, it was so cute! All those hearts! And the way Eevee ran around! Fwoosh, fwoosh, zip, zip." She giggled. A 9 appeared on her screen.

Caspian took center-stage again and announced the next coordinator, a rookie from Olivine City. The appeal was amateur, using simple attacks by a young Wingull. "And now, let's welcome Harley!" _'1_

Harley walked out on stage, blowing air kisses to the audience.

"Come on out, my cool Ariados!" He called while tossing out a pokeball. The white ball of light formed his famous arachnid. Harley giggled while he caught the ball and put it away.

"Let's kick this off with spider web!" Ariados quickly spat out thick webs, covering the entire stage in seconds.

"Let's keep this short, so finish it up with both poison sting and pin missile!" Ariados simultaneously released the silver-white pin missile attack from its back while opening it's mouth straight up and releasing the purple poison sting. The two attacks were purposefully weak, causing them to become trapped in the spider web. Harley and Ariados bowed as the crowd cheered. Harley recalled Ariados and walked backwards to the stage exit, all the while blowing kisses to the audience.

A few minutes later, the stage had been cleared of the spider web attack, and May and Harley stood facing each other from across the field.

"I'll let you hold the ribbon after I win it, dearie." Harley called across the field.

"In you dreams, Harley!" May retaliated.

Caspian walked to the edge of the field. "Ok, second round, first battle! May versus Harley!" The crowd cheered. "Start the clock, and begin!"

"Blaziken, the stage is yours!" May called, tossing her pokeball into the air. _'2_

"Go, Cacturne!" Harley mimicked May's toss for height. Both pokemon appeared at the same moment.

"Blaziken, use ember!" Blaziken nodded, before opening it's mouth and released lots of small fireballs directly towards Cacturne.

"Dodge and use needle arm!" Cacturne jumped out of the way, but the attack was too wide, and a few of the fireballs still hit the cactus pokemon. It flinched, causing it to miss it's landing and stumble. Harley lost some points. "Cacturne!"

"Now use sky uppercut!" Blaziken rushed forward and jumped up as it reached Cacturne, at the same time reaching out and punching upwards to toss Ariados up. Harley lost more points, leaving him with just under half of his original points.

"My little cacturne!" Harley growled. "Bullet seed!" Cacturne jerked back it's head and opened it's mouth, releasing a bullet seed attack. The golden seeds flew out quickly, hitting Blaziken with more power due to their close proximity. May lost some points.

"Blaziken, ember!" Once again, Blaziken opened it's mouth and released an ember attack. The two pokemon were still too close to dodge easily, so Cacturne couldn't dodge at all. Harley lost a few more points and Cacturne flew backwards. The fire attack was too strong for the grass-type, and it was knocked out with just one minute left on the clock. For a moment, everyone stared at Cacturne to see if it would be able to get up.

Caspian walked forward. "Winner, May!" The crowd cheered loudly and May laughed and ran to hug her Blaziken before they left the stage. "Next up, Hero versus Cattie!"

Hero walked out on the stage holding a pichu in her arms. Across the field, Cattie ran up with her umbreon beside her. Caspian looked between the two before backing off the field. "Coordinators ready? Begin!" The clock immediately started counting down.

"Pichu, show them what you're made of!" Hero called, letting go of her pichu as it jumped to the floor and ran forward, cheeks sparking.

"Likewise, Gwen, go for it!" Cattie called confidently. Her umbreon cried its name as it ran to the field and growled at the sparking pichu. "Let's start this off with a simple quick attack!" Gwen ran forward swiftly.

"Dodge!" Pichu jumped aside, causing Gwen to skid to a stop and turn around. "Now use charm!" Pichu faced Gwen and made a puppy-dog face, surrounding herself with pink hearts. Umbreon lowered its ears and stood up, watching the cute pokemon with a smile on it's face. Cattie lost points.

"Gwen! Don't be fooled!" Cattie cried out, but her pokemon didn't hear her.

"Thundershock!" Pichu smirked, a very odd expression for the tiny pokemon, before calling it's name as it released a powerful Thundershock attack. The bolt of lightening streaked towards Gwen too fast for her to react, and she was hit with such force that she flew into the air over Hero's head. Pichu was hit with the rebound, flinching slightly. Cattie continued to loose points, whereas Hero's points hadn't decreased yet.

"Shadow ball!" Gwen shook her head and somersaulted, landing on her feet just behind Hero. She rushed forward to the field and opened her mouth, the ball of darkness quickly growing.

"Dodge it!" Pichu tried to jump out of the way, but Gwen turned and released the attack in the new direction. The attack hit Pichu with full force, engulfing the small pokemon. Hero finally lost points, but was still ahead of Cattie. With less than a minute to go, Hero called her command. "Thundershock once more!"

The shadow ball attack broke to reveal the sparking pichu. It called it's name loudly as it released the electric attack again, once again hitting Gwen, but she was better prepared and didn't fly off the ground as it had before. However, it cost Cattie the last of her points, with a mere 20 seconds left.

Cattie sighed. "Well, I guess that's what I get for not practicing contest-style battles."

Caspian twirled to the edge of the stage. "Winner, Hero!" The two coordinators bowed to the cheering audience before walking calmly off the stage.

A few minutes later, Hero and May were standing on the stage once more, ready to begin their battle. Pichu was in Hero's arms and Blaziken was standing beside May.

Caspian watched the two coordinators. "Let the final battle for the Olivine City Ribbon…begin!" Both pokemon rushed forward.

"Pichu, rain dance!" Pichu closed it's eyes and concentrated. A dark cloud appeared high overhead, above the hall. It quickly grew and rain began to pelt down. Some of the audience cried out as they were hit by the rain. Those with umbrellas quickly pulled them out and shared them with those around them.

"Blaziken, quick attack!" Blaziken rushed forward, and hit the tiny pokemon before it had a chance to move. "Toss it into the air and use sky uppercut!" Blaziken grabbed the mouse pokemon and tossed it almost a dozen feet into the air. It jumped off the ground and extended it's arm for the sky uppercut attack. Hero lost some points.

"Thunderbolt!" Pichu quickly released a thunderbolt attack. Too quickly to build enough power to do any real damage, but fast enough to prevent Blaziken from reaching it. Below them, everyone's hair stood on end as the electricity traveled through the rain. May's points decreased as the two pokemon landed, so Hero was winning.

"Blaze kick!" Blaziken rushed forward. When it was close enough to Pichu, it kicked out as it's legs lit up in flames. Pichu was hit hard by the attack. Fortunately for the electric rodent, the fire was weakened due to the rain dance attack, so it wasn't hit too hard. Hero lost more points, putting May back in the lead.

"Iron tail!" Pichu stood up, gritting it's teeth a bit, before running forward and jumping into the air near Blaziken. It's tail glowed silver as it whipped around. Blaziken calmly held up it's arms in an X. The attack bounced off. Pichu, undeterred, tried a few more times before falling to the ground panting. Hero lost almost all of her remaining points.

"Blaziken, now use–" May was cut off as the clock buzzed and Caspian came to the edge of the stage again. May and Hero looked up at the screen instinctively. May still had half of her points, but Hero only had about a third.

"Winner, May!" Hero picked up her Pichu, bowed, and left the stage after shaking hands with May. A few moments later, May stood center-stage with Nurse Joy, Robert, Sarah, and Caspian. Caspian held a box with the Olivine City Ribbon. Robert carefully removed the ribbon and turned to May.

"You've earned this ribbon, May." He said as he handed her the ribbon ceremoniously. May smiled.

"Thank you." She twirled around excitedly and held the light green ribbon up. "My first ribbon in Johto!" She twirled around again and laughed. _'4_

Caspian came back onto the stage, right beside May. "And that concludes Olivine City's first contest!" The crowd cheered wildly. "We'll see you at the next contest, buh-bye!"

_

* * *

Notes:_

'_1 – These contests do have more appeals, it's just a little awkward to write in the montage of other appeals in the same way they're done in the anime, so I mostly just leave them out altogether._

'_2 – I recently acquired all of the [English-dubbed] episodes from season 1-9, so I'll be watching all the episodes with contests to try to improve my appeals and battles. This includes the calls they use to release pokemon, as well as a few other small details. In the anime, I've noticed the emcees tend to give a long opening and closing speech, and commentary throughout the appeals and battles. However, Caspian will not be doing so. As in this chapter, she may occasionally give a longer opening/closing, but there won't be any commentary._

'_3 – Hero is based very strongly off a friend of mine._

'_4 – This ribbon can be seen in the DP episodes where May enters the Wallace cup and shows Ash and friends her Johto ribbons. _

_

* * *

A/N:_

_I'm trying to update as much as possible. Unfortunately, my schoolwork doesn't seem to agree with me, so I'm often very busy trying to keep up with all of it. Thanks to everyone, who's been waiting for this chapter, for being patient and encouraging me to continue, and if you're new to this story, then I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it._

_A friend of mine (you know who you are) pointed out that I might be able to include some scenes from the coordinator's lounge similar to what it is in the anime. Unfortunately, if I try to do that, it'd take even longer to finish the contest chapters. However, if I have time while writing future chapters, I might include some scenes like that, especially in contest chapters with both May and Drew._

_Review Replies:  
lulu halulu  
nope, no Egoshipping_

_sakura-fai  
Misty will explain a lot in the next chapter. Gary is her partner mostly because Tracey kinda got on my nerves sometimes, so I wouldn't really enjoy writing him in. No, Ash probably won't be in this. I'm trying to have the storyline of Rose Chronicles match up as closely as possible to the anime, with the exceptions of Misty and Gary appearing._

_kagomesbutterflyfeeling  
Yes, some of the contest halls will be open-roofed, including the Olivine contest hall as "shown" earlier in the chapter, all of them are designed so that they can open up. There will also be some special stages, but I'll get to those later. I hadn't really thought about writing a contest where it's raining, but it's a good idea.(And, by the way, the rain dance appeal isn't quite what I meant, that was part of the chapter before I read your review. There will be at least one contest where it is raining throughout.) I'll have some appeals later that use props, but I'm not a big fan of props in the appeals, so there won't be very many. The type combination is one of my favourite things to work out, so there will definitely be multi-type combos._

_Everyone who said "update soon"  
I'm trying my best to update weekly. I have so much schoolwork right now that I'm lucky to update monthly at this point, but I'll continue to try to update weekly whenever possible. Sorry for the wait. _

_The main reason that Misty and Gary are in the Johto contests (aka my story) is very simple. Misty is underused in the anime since she left, and Gary has always been one of my favourite characters. Apart from those two appearing (and any fluff from actual contestshipping scenes), just about anything else is based on what I think would/could actually happen in the anime. _

_

* * *

I also want to let everyone know that I started a contestshipping forum here on FanFiction. I know that a lot of people either don't know FanFiction has forums or where to find the forums. The forum can be used by anyone to discuss anything related to contestshipping. I'll be starting a few new topics when I get the chance, but for now the only topic deals with your favourite stories/authors (up to three of each). I have some specifications that you can use as guidelines for each post, but feel free to deviate, or ignore the guidelines altogether. The forum is for you guys. Please take a look at it and leave a few posts._

_Here is the link. Remove all the parenthesis () and replace dot with a period. _

_www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(/)forum(/)Yet(_)More(_)Contestshipping(/)57089(/)_


	8. Chapter 8

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

**

* * *

Chapter 8**

Drew walked down the street, occasionally glancing at the ribbon in his hand. After doing so a couple times, he pulled his new ribbon case out of his pocket and put the ribbon away. He walked in silence to the pokecenter, where he asked Nurse Joy to heal his pokemon.

"Hey Drew." A cheerful voice said behind him. Drew turned around and saw Misty, from the contest, standing behind him. Beside her was the boy who had been in the coordinator's lounge earlier that day, although he didn't participate in the contest.

"Uh…hi?" He replied cautiously. Misty smiled, and pointed to the guy beside her.

"This is Gary. You know Ash, right? Gary and Ash grew up together in Pallet Town."

Gary grinned, a slight smirk barely visible in the way he grinned. "Ash-y boy could never beat me." He replied. He didn't sound conceited, but rather like he was teasing a friend. He reminded Drew of someone, but he couldn't quite figure out who.

Misty glared at him. "Charizard beat Blastoise, remember?"_ '1_

Gary smirked. "It was a fluke." Misty sighed, not wanting to argue the point at that moment.

"Er…nice to meet you." Drew said, a bit confused. Nurse Joy returned then with his pokemon.

"So, Drew," Misty began, as soon as Drew had his pokemon, "are you headed to Mahogany Town?"

"Yeah." Drew started to walk away, only to have Misty and Gary follow him.

"Great! Let's all go together." Misty said happily.

Drew blinked in mild surprise. "Wha-what?"

"C'mon, let's go!" Misty skipped ahead, full of energy and excited to be away from the gym for a while.

Before leaving Ecruteak, Misty made them stop at an ice cream stand and get popsicles. A few minutes later, they were on their way again, and out of the city, walking on grassy path from Ecruteak to Mahogany.

"What are you two doing here?" Drew asked curiously.

Misty licked her popsicle. "Well, you see. There was this contest yesterday and…"

Drew rolled as eyes, causing Misty to giggle and Gary to smirk. "What are you two doing here, in Johto, participating in contests? I was told you," he looked to Misty, "were a gym leader in Kanto, and you," he pointed to Gary, "were studying pokemon in Sinnoh." _'2_

Gary smirked again. "We still are."

Drew sighed. "Not answering my question."

Misty finished off her popsicle and tossed the stick to a nearby trashcan. "Because of me. Ash told me all about the contests that he's watched May in, and the few he's been in himself, and they sounded interesting. Plus I've seen a few on TV. I needed a break from the gym for a while, so I thought being an on-again off-again coordinator would be perfect. I'd get to try something new, travel again…"

"So, what about the gym?"

Misty shrugged. "What about it?"

"Who's watching it while you're here? And why Johto? Kanto has contests as well." Drew almost stumbled over a root in the path, but quickly caught himself before the others noticed.

"Tracy is watching it for the most part, checking on the pokemon every day while I'm gone. My sisters are home every now and then as well. I also have an apprentice, Molly, who Tracey's training about the best ways to care for the pokemon." Misty stopped walking for a moment and tapped her mouth thoughtfully. "Actually, she's about the same age as you and May. And I'll only be in Johto for a few days at a time, so Tracey simply tells the trainers to come back, unless one of my sisters is there. As for why I choose the Johto contests, I wanted to get out of Kanto for awhile, and Johto in general is closer to Kanto than Sinnoh, and definitely closer than Hoenn. Otherwise, I'd have to take more than a few days from the gym." _'3_

Drew nodded in understanding, then turned to Gary. "What about you?"

Gary walked forward for a moment, his hands in his pockets. At first, Drew thought he hadn't heard the question, but then Gary answered hesitantly. "Misty needed a partner, and she made an offer I couldn't refuse."

Misty snickered, then noticed Drew looked confused. "Some call it blackmail, I call it leverage." She stated proudly. Drew smirked as Gary grimaced. _'4_

"Why would you need a partner?" Drew asked, genuinely curious, as well as a bit confused.

"Some of the Johto contests are doubles. You can't participate without a partner. It's a new style the Johto region wanted to introduce to the world of coordinating. If everything works out, all of the contests in Johto, and maybe other regions as well, will be turned into exclusively doubles. Unfortunately, I didn't check to make see if the Ecruteak contest was doubles or singles…So when I told Gary to be here in time, I didn't know he wouldn't be needed…"

Gary rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and now I'm stuck here for another couple days before going back to Sinnoh." He glanced at Misty. "Thanks, Misty, really." He said sarcastically.

"You're welcome." Misty said happily, ignoring the sarcasm. They continued on in silence for a few minutes. Misty tapped her chin thoughtfully, thinking something through. "Hey, Gary, do you remember what's between Ecruteak and Mahogany?" She asked curiously.

"Yeah, Eggseter." He said, smiling a bit when he remembered the race, even though he'd lost to Ash. _'5_

"It should be coming up soon…" She said slowly. A half hour later, the group reached the top of a small hill, and in the near distance, they could see the small town clearly. Drew's eyes widened slightly as he looked out over the rolling hills. With the wind softly blowing the grass, it was almost breathtaking.

Misty laughed and starting walking quickly down the hill, just barely holding herself back from an all-out run. Gary and Drew followed her silently, keeping pace with one another. A few minutes later, they caught up with Misty just outside the town. Drew and Gary tried to convince Misty to stop and eat, but she just shook her head, smiled, and told them to wait.

Drew looked around in wonder as they passed a few pokemon daycares, eggs carefully laid out in the warm sun, and baby pokemon playing happily near the cool ponds. Every now and then, one of the caretakers would notice the three travelers and would wave, calling out a warm hello. After walking a short while, they came to a fork in the road. Misty started heading down the left fork. Drew started to follow her, before realizing that Gary wasn't following.

"What's wrong?" Drew turned around and walked the few steps back to Gary.

Gary pointed down the right fork, his other hand in his pocket. "That's the way to Mahogany. I don't know where she's going."

Up ahead, Misty stopped and turned around. "Will you two hurry up?!" The two boys glanced at one another, before Drew shrugged and turned to follow Misty. Gary sighed after a moment and turned to follow as well, muttering something about being late to Sinnoh.

After getting around a bend in the road, a house was visible ahead, with a little pond out in the front, and a light brown gate wrapping around the property. It resembled the daycares the three had passed, except that there were no eggs laying in the grass. Misty jumped over the gate and ran up to the door, rapping three times. Drew and Gary jumped over the gate as well, and reached Misty as the door opened.

Before them stood an old man, brown hair just beginning to turn grey. "Oh, hello, Misty! And Gary, too! It's been so long. Come in. Where's Ash? And who's this young man?" He looked at each of them, his kind eyes resting on Drew for a moment as they entered the house.

"This is Drew. He's a coordinator. Ash is in the Sinnoh region now." Misty answered all of his questions happily.

"Pleased to meet you, Drew. I'm Shellby." The man tilted his head towards Drew in greeting.

Drew nodded back. "Nice to meet you, sir."

"We just put on lunch, why don't you three come join us." They followed Shellby to a small dining room, where the table was set for four. "We'll set another place."

Misty looked down, a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, Mr. Shellby. I wasn't sure if I could get Drew to tag along or not."

The old man smiled. "That's alright, Misty. The more, the merrier." He left the room to get the dishes for Drew's place. For the first time, Drew got a good look at the room. There were eggs everywhere! A few shelves were set up on the walls, with polished eggs carefully placed in small nests, as well as some baskets of eggs. All the eggs had different markings on them, some of which Drew recognized, such as the dark brown ones with darker brown stripes resembling a sentret's tail, but others he didn't. He walked over to a white egg with red splotches on it, trying to figure out what was inside.

A little while later, Shellby, his wife, and the three trainers were ready to eat. Drew was mostly quiet during the meal, while the others talked. Misty and Shellby's wife were talking some of the pokemon that had just hatched, while Gary and Shellby discussed the pokemon in the Sinnoh region. Every now and then, one of them would ask Drew a question, but he was interested in their conversations, and content to just listen.

When they were done, Misty helped clean up. Gary asked to see the young pokemon, so Shellby's wife took him and Misty to the back to see them. Drew started to follow, but Shellby stopped him.

"Not you, young man. There's something I want to give to you." He motioned for Drew to follow him. They went into an adjoining room. It was a very brightly lit, small room, and only had a few eggs. The eggs looked scuffed and slightly scratched, completely different from the polished eggs in the main room. "We just received these eggs. They were all abandoned by their owners, we don't know who." He walked forward and picked up a brown egg, with a light brown zigzag stripe around the middle. "I've seen a few of your contests, and if you're friends with Misty and Gary, then you must be as good as they say. Take care of this egg, it should hatch in a few days."

Drew carefully took the egg. "Wow, thank you, sir." Drew looked at the large egg in awe. The side of his mouth pulled up in a soft smirk. "I don't suppose you'd tell me what kind of pokemon it is?"

Shellby chuckled. "No, you'll have to see for yourself." He patted Drew on the back, and they left the room. "Oh, I almost forgot. Wait here for a moment." Drew admired the egg some more while Shellby was gone, wondering what kind of pokemon was inside. A moment later, Shellby was back, holding a container. "Here, put the egg inside of this, it'll keep it safe and warm."

Drew nodded and carefully opened the red top of the container. As gently as he could, he placed the brown egg on the thick purple padding at the bottom, his fingers brushing against the smooth cotton. He closed the top and noticed the space on top. "Excuse me, sir, what's this for." He asked, motioning to the spot on the top.

"That's to hold a pokeball. Unfortunately, I ran out recently. As soon as the pokemon hatches, be sure to catch it in a pokeball." Drew nodded again.

Just then, Misty and Gary came back inside. "Mr. Shellby, we should get going if we're going to make it to Mahogany by sundown. Thanks for the lunch." Misty said, a bit sad to be going already. "Huh?" She looked at Drew for a moment, and her eyes lit up. "You have an egg!" She hurried over to him and looked closely at the egg. "Hmm, what are you going to be, sweetie?"

Drew smirked. "We'll have to wait and see, I guess."

"Yup." Misty turned to Shellby. "Bye, Mr. Shellby. I hope to see you again someday."

"Goodbye, Misty, Gary, Drew." He said as they walked out the door.

"Later." Gary said, raising one hand in farewell.

With Eggseter far behind them, the three stopped for a few minutes to rest. Drew carefully set the egg down on the ground. It was heavier than he'd realized. He started to sit down in the shade, when he heard a low growling sound. Immediately alert, he stood up straight and started scanning the trees.

"What's wrong?" Misty asked quietly. Gary heard the sound as well.

"I heard a noise." Drew said simply, his eyes fixed on the spot he was sure the sound had come from. Hearing another growl, Drew's eyes narrowed slightly, until a vulpix jumped out playfully.

"A vulpix!" Misty cried happily. "It's so cute!"

"It looks powerful, too." Gary commented. "Hmm, it only has five tails."

Drew blinked in surprise. "Huh, that's the same vulpix I saw in Ecruteak."

The small pokemon ran in front of Drew and crouched low, growling again. Drew quickly understood, and reached for his pokemon.

"It wants to battle you." Gary said. "This should be interesting." He leaned against a tree to watch, while Misty rearranged herself on the ground to face Drew and Vulpix.

"Flygon, come on out!" Drew called, tossing a pokeball.

_

* * *

Notes:_

'_1 – This is a reference to Episode 270: Can't Beat the Heat. Ash's Charizard beat Gary's Blastoise in the 1__st__ round of battles of the Silver Conference (aka the Johto League)._

'_2 – Drew just happens to know this. Perhaps he overheard May talking Ash or something. _

'_3 - Molly is one of the main characters in the 3__rd__ movie. Her age in the movie is about 6 or 7, which makes her about 10 when the Advanced Generation arc begins, and therefore about the same age as May and Drew._

'_4 – Any good ideas for the blackmail/leverage Misty has on Gary? Nothing too extreme, and preferably not something too predictable, like embarrassing pictures. Please PM me any suggestions._

'_5 – Another reference to the original series. Episode 228: Extreme Pokemon. Ash's Bayleef barely managed to win against Gary's Arcanine (and the other trainers and pokemon in the race), and Ash won the blue egg that eventually hatched into a phanpy (now a donphan)._

_

* * *

A/N: I had to research Gary a bit because I was writing him entirely out of character the first time I wrote this chapter. Unfortunately, just about everything I knew about Gary (from the original series), isn't really true about him from the last time we see him in the original series through his appearances in diamond and pearl…From what I can tell, he's really a lot like Drew, without the hair-flicking. Is this true, or his Gary just horribly out of character? What about Misty? _

_I don't usually like to leave cliffhangers of any kind, but I haven't finished writing out the battle yet, and the chapter was long enough as is. Next chapter, back to May, so you guys will have to wait until chapter 10 to see the battle._

_Review Replies:_

_Emmie_

_Don't feel bad. I should've released the mis-type. Robert did win a ribbon cup in Hoenn, not Kanto. Thank you for correcting me. Unfortunately, there's really no way with my writing style that I can highlight the "important" battles. Fortunately, none of the contest battles (so far) are actually important to the plot, so you can easily skip straight to the end of the contest chapters, see who won, and move on. Later on, there might be some, but if you skim through, you should be able to tell where the battle ends and something else happens, if not, then it will most likely be mentioned later and you can go back and glance over it if it's not in a flashback. I agree, narwhals are amazing._

_Glaceon798_

_You'll have to wait and see, but remember that this is a contestshipping story._

_Heatherstorm_

_Each contest (except the Grand Festival) will have 4 appeals and 4 battles, with few exceptions, if any. Does anyone else want less OC contest stuff? A few of the OCs, I'll be fine cutting the out, but some, specifically most of the ones based on my friends, will stay in regardless. I will be making some other changes to the contest chapters as well, which I'll mention when I make them.  
_

_

* * *

Once again, I'd like to remind everyone of the forum I began for contestshipping. Remove all the parenthesis () and replace dot with a period._

_www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(/)forum(/)Yet(_)More(_)Contestshipping(/)57089(/)_


	9. Chapter 9

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

**

* * *

Chapter 9**

"Bye!" May called back, waving excitedly to Katrina. It was the day after the contest, and Katrina was getting ready to leave Johto, and was heading to the docks. She stopped in the street and turned around to wave to May, who standing at the border of Olivine City. Turning around, May started racing her Eevee down the trail to Ecruteak. They ran for almost half an hour, before May had to start walking and catch her breath. Panting slightly, she laughed as Eevee kept running in large circles around her.

"Where'd you get so much energy?!" May asked, giggling. Eevee simply called out its name before leaping up to stand on May's shoulders. For a few minutes, they walked in silence. Finally, May couldn't handle it anymore, so she tossed a pokeball in the air. "C'mon out, Blaziken!"

A beam of white light shot out, and her large Blaziken appeared. Understanding what May wanted, it bent down so she could get on its back. Eevee jumped down beside them and the two pokemon got ready. "Ready, set…GO!" May called. The pokemon shot off. Blaziken had longer legs, but Eevee was more agile. May laughed as each tried to outrun the other, and Eevee concentrated on not tripping Blaziken on the narrow trail. They had only been running a few minutes when May fell asleep on Blaziken's back.

When she woke up, she was laying down in a grassy field. Blaziken was standing protectively over her, and a bunch of sentret and furret were staring at her, all of them smiling. When she opened her eyes, they all started jumping up and down happily, and some rattata, hoothoot, and butterfree joined them. She sat up and looked around. She could just barely see the Tin Tower in the distance. Eevee was playing with one of the furret. When she stood up, something fell off of her. Looking down, she saw a rose with a white card. She picked them up carefully, smiling as she looked at the rose, suspecting who had given it to her. She placed it in her hair before opening the card._'1_

_May,_

_Congratulations on winning the contest. It's not for two more days, but I already know you won. Of course, it was only because I didn't participate. Keep training. _

_Later,_

_Drew_

May smiled as she read the card, rolling her eyes at the end. She could practically see Drew flicking his hair. May put the card in her pack. It was already late in the morning, and she wanted to get to Mahogany Town by dark. The pokemon in the meadow were too cute though, so she played with them for awhile before deciding to leave.

"Come on, guys, we'd better get going." She called to her pokemon. She recalled her Blaziken as Eevee ran up to her. They walked the rest of the way to Ecruteak in almost complete silence. Every now and then, Eevee would run ahead and start chasing its tail, which always made May laugh. They reached Ecruteak in time to stop and get some lunch before continuing on to Mahogany. As she walked down the street, May took the rose out of her hair and started twirling it between her fingers, staring at it and smiling softly.

"Who are you thinking of?" A voice asked.

"Dr–" May stopped as she realized what she was saying, a blush crossing her cheeks. She looked beside her at the purple-haired girl. "N-no one. I mean, a friend."

The girl smiled a knowing smile and rolled her eyes. "Rrright." She laughed lightly. "I'm Sakura."

"My name's May." May said, returning the smile. Suddenly, an espeon appeared in front of her, practically flying towards her, and May fell to the ground, the Espeon sitting calmly on top of her, softly twitching its tail.

Sakura rushed forward. "Espeon!" Espeon mewed it's name at her before getting up and jumping off of May. "Sorry! We're working on Espeon's teleport move!" She scratched her head, embarrassed. "She's been too high up almost every time, but she's teleporting closer to her target now."

"It's alright." May said. As Sakura reached down to pick up her espeon, Eevee jumped up on May's shoulders, placing its front paws on May's head so it could look around. Sakura watched the little pokemon while scratching Espeon's ears.

"Aww, your eevee is adorable!" Sakura cooed. "Which eeveelution are you going to evolve her into?"

May blinked in surprise, then glanced up thoughtfully at her playful eevee. Eevee hadn't been listening, but did notice May looking up at it, so it dropped its front paws on her shoulder and rubbed her face, causing May to giggle. "I haven't really thought about it." She scratched Eevee's head. "I'll let her choose." _'2_

Sakura smiled. "My family specializes in the eeveelutions. Let's go eat at my house and you two can look over the choices." Espeon mewed in agreement.

"Ok." May agree happily. Eevee jumped down and ran in a circle around her feet. Espeon quickly followed it, before running down the street. Eevee immediately chased after Espeon. The girls glanced at each other for a moment, before racing down the street after their pokemon, laughing.

A little while later, Sakura was in her kitchen, pouring ramen in two bowls. She set the bowls on tray, grabbed a pitcher of water and some glasses, and starting walking to the door. She paused a moment to grab a large book, then continued outside to where May sat on a large white cloth, Espeon and Eevee curled up on either side of her.

"Chow time!" Sakura said as she laid the tray down. May accepted the bowl of ramen from Sakura, and quickly proceeded to devour it. When both girls had polished off their pasta, Sakura picked up the book and lovingly stroked the worn leather cover.

May took a gulp of her water. "What's that? It looks old." She asked, intrigued.

"This book has been in my family for a long time." Sakura explained, tracing the circles of symbols on the front with one finger. "It contains information about all the eeveelutions. Each of these symbols represents a different type, as each eeveelution is only one type." She held the book up to show May. The center of the cover had an outline of an eevee, surrounded by a green leaf, a blue teardrop, red fire, a yellow lightning bolt, and what appeared to be a white tooth. _'4 _These were then surrounded by five more symbols, those by four symbols, and lastly by three symbols. "Whenever a new eeveelution is "discovered," it's information is added to the book and a member of the family is chosen to become an expert on the new eeveelution." May nodded in response, not wanting to interrupt the serious atmosphere that had settled over them. "We're going to use it to help you and Eevee decide what she will evolve into, if she decides to evolve."

May nodded again and gently woke up Eevee. "Where do we begin?"

Sakura opened the book to the first entry. "We'll go in alphabetical order. First up, my own eeveelution, 'espeon, the sun pokémon. Psychic-type. Espeon have fur like velvet. They are known for their extreme loyalty, to those they consider worthy. It is said they developed precognitive powers to protect their friends from harm.'" She flipped the book around to show May a few pictures of espeon, as well as a list of some of the more popular attacks learned by espeon. Sakura then flipped the page. "Next, we have 'flareon, the flame pokémon. Fire-type. Flareon are the fluffiest eeveelution. Their bodies can reach temperatures up to around 1,650 degrees Fahrenheit, allowing them to emit flames almost twice that.'" Again she pointed at the picture, then flipped the page. _'3_

"'Glaceon, the fresh snow pokémon. Ice-type. Glaceon are capable of freezing their fur to make it stick out like needles. They can become so cold, the atmosphere around them freezes, creating a flurry of diamond-dust.'" Sakura continued explaining, all the while holding the book towards May. May studied the picture. She didn't have an ice-type. Then again, she didn't have a psychic-type either. "Fourth, 'jolteon, the lightning pokémon. Electric-type. Jolteon are moody pokémon that can charges up to 10,000 volts of power. They are known for their sharp, spiky fur.'"

_I don't have an electric-type either. It's not as cute as espeon or glaceon though._ May thought, stroking Eevee, who was watching the book attentively.

"Three left. 'Leafeon, the verdant pokémon. Grass-type. Leafeon are calm, defensive pokémon. Because they use photosynthesis, the air around them is always clean and fresh.' 'Umbreon, the moonlight pokémon. Dark-type. Umbreon are mysterious pokémon that glow when exposes to moonlight, or when they become excited. They are sneaky, and prefer to hid in darkness until the opponent makes the first move.'" Sakura glanced up before turning to the last eeveelution. "And now, the final eeveelution." She flipped the page dramatically. "'Vaporeon, the bubble jet pokémon. Water-type. Vaporeon are able to become almost invisible in water. Because they love fresh, clean water, they rest by quiet lakes and beautiful shores.'" Sakura finished her speech, then set the book down.

May thought silently for a moment, then began voicing her thoughts. "Well, I already have fire-,water-, and grass-types. Jolteon isn't as cute as the others. What do you think, Eevee?" Eevee jumped off her lap and pawed at the book. When it got to the page it wanted, it simply pointed at the picture with its paw and talked a bit. May nodded her agreement, then turned to Sakura. "How will she evolve?"

An hour later, Sakura, May, and their two pokémon stood facing the Burned Tower. "Have fun, May, and be careful." Sakura said, turning to the younger girl.

"You're not coming with me?" May asked, confused.

"No, I have a few things to get done." Sakura winked. "Just watch out for weak or broken walls and such. I'll come back in awhile to lead you to the edge of town." Waving, Sakura and Espeon walked off down the street.

May waved back, then turned and ran towards the tower, Eevee trotting along behind her. When they had entered the ruins, May slowed down and looked around her, and Eevee jumped atop one of the shorter walls. May began to glance around her in wonder, but soon tripped over a bit of the wall that had broken off. _'5_ "Ow!" She cried. She stood up and brushed herself off, a little flushed and embarrassed, although no one was around to see her trip. "I'm glad Drew didn't see that, or I'd be hearing all about it." She murmured to herself.

She was about to leave the tower early when she heard a small crash from further ahead in the ruins. Eevee crept along the top of the wall as May snuck forward to investigate. Peeking around a corner, May noticed a set of stairs and heard another small crash coming up from the shaded steps. She slowly made her way down the stairs, with Eevee carefully following behind.

"Annie, be more careful! You could break it!" A female voice reprimanded.

"There was a bug on my face! And you're getting dirt all over my new jeans." Another female voice, Annie, complained.

May reached the end of the stairs and peaked around the edge of the stairwell. Two girls were arguing in a single large room. The floor resembled an excavation site, mostly dirt, with a single ladder leading to the lower part of the room. One of the girls was on her hands and knees, carefully digging into the dirt. The other girl was leaning against the ladder and holding up a compact, trying to catch the light from the lantern nearby.

"This dirt is doing wonders for my complex though!" Annie said, admiring herself in the small mirror. "You should try this Oakley. It might be able to help you."

"Concentrate on the task at hand, Annie! If we don't hurry up, someone is going to find us." Oakley snapped. Just then, there was a dull thud as her small shovel hit something in the dirt. "Finally, we've found it."

Annie immediately closed her compact and was kneeling on the ground next to Oakley, helping her lift a small chest out of the dirt. May watched from her hiding place as they opened the chest and pulled out a small golden object that had a hole near the center.

"Another piece of the mask. Excellent." Oakley picked up a large case that had been sitting near her and opened it up. Inside sat two objects. The first one was reflective and seemed almost too big for its place in the case. The second object looked almost the same as the one the two girls had just uncovered. Oakley carefully placed the uncovered item beside it's twin and closed the case. "Let's get out of here."

The girls got up and quickly walked towards the exit. May panicked and ran up the stairs until she found a narrow hallway she had missed while coming down. She and Eevee dodged inside and pressed against the wall. Annie and Oakley very gracefully and swiftly ran up the stairs just moments later, passing May's hiding spot without a backward glance. After a few seconds had gone by, May exhaled, not releasing she had been holding her breath. She and Eevee slowly made their way to the top of the stairway and out of the ruins.

"What?! Why didn't you stop them?" Sakura said. May had explained everything to Sakura as soon as Sakura returned to the ruins.

May shifted uneasily. "I don't know. I just had this overwhelming feeling that something horrible would happen if I tried." There was a moment of silence while May tried to forget the sense of dread.

Sakura decided to brighten the mood. "I wish you could stay a bit longer." She said, acting dramatically upset.

May laughed lightly. "I told you, the contest in Mahogany is sometime in the next couple days. I need to rest up and train beforehand. We'll meet again, someday."

"Count on it." Sakura shook May's hand, then waved goodbye as May walked down the road towards Mahogany Town.

_

* * *

Notes:_

'_1 – I don't know what pokemon May has already seen so far in the anime, so I won't be including most of the pokédex entries for ones she hasn't seen. _

'_2 – I am purposefully writing May's eevee to act very cat-like. There's no real reason behind it, it's just a good excuse to have Eevee ride on May's shoulder like Gary's eevee did._

'_3 – The descriptions are based on the pokedex entries from the games, anime, and manga._

'_4 – The white tooth represents dragon-type, even though there isn't yet an official dragon-type eeveelution. I am working on drawing the design for the book and will be posting a rough sketch within the next few weeks or so on my deviantArt site._

'_5 – Not actually relevant, but this is the piece of wall that broke when Drew was exploring the ruins._

'''_1 – Why is it that most of the people in the pokemon world are so unimaginative? I mean, a few trainers give their pokemon actual names, but most of them just call their pokemon by what species of pokemon it is! It's like having a cat and simply calling it "Cat." (Of course, some names for pets are unimaginative as well, like Fluffy.) Some, like Ash, are very imaginative when it comes to battle strategies, or, like May and Drew, contest stuff, but even they don't actually name their pokemon. It's so impersonal! Ok, that's all of that little rant…_

_Episodes referenced: 3_

_

* * *

A/N: Sorry it's been a year since I last updated. Multiple parts of this chapter gave me a ton of trouble (particularly the Annie/Oakley bit.) After the end of the story, the "last" chapter will be a list. I'll explain the list in the final story chapter, but part of it will include what episodes I referenced throughout the story, so from now on, I won't be mentioning the episodes that I reference in the notes of each chapter, although I will mention how many episodes I reference. It's basically a behind-the-story or making-of tidbit, but the end is still a long way off.  
_

_Review Replies:_

_lulu halulu_  
_Some Pokeshipping moments, yes, but since Ash isn't in really in this story, it will be mostly from Misty. Remember that I'm basing most of this on the anime, and since Ash hasn't started dating Misty in the anime, he won't start in the story, unfortunately. _

_XD0002-Shadow Rayquaza  
I purposefully overdid Misty's enthusiasm. She's only going to be like that occasionally. It's because she's happy to be out of the gym for awhile, doing something like contests rather than just visiting a friend._

_kagomesbutterflyfeeling  
Caspian will probably be talking even more in future contests. She'll explain at the next contest. Cattie's umbreon is named Gwen, based off Guenhwvyar from R.A. Salvatore's Legend of Drizzt book series. Corrections have been made, thank you. Hero is about four-five years older than May and Drew. More info about her will be on my deviantArt account when I get around to scanning her character design. For the purposes of this story, she spent about three years as a trainer, and then became a coordinator. Yes, I have heard of the show Leverage, no I haven't really watched it. Nope, you'll have to wait until the egg hatches to see what's inside. _

_Anonymous  
Thank you for pointing that out. The story is meant to have more obvious romance between them than the anime. It's also a lot of fun for me to add in the little scenes and overall bits of fluff. _

_

* * *

Once again, I'd like to remind everyone of the forum I began for contestshipping. Here is the link. Remove all the parenthesis () and replace dot with a period. It can't become an active forum without posts, so don't just check it out, share your thoughts and ask questions._

_www(dot)fanfiction(dot)net(/)forum(/)Yet(_)More(_)Contestshipping(/)57089(/)_


	10. Chapter 10

_'# - relevant or semi-relevant (aka please read the notes)  
'''# - pondering/ranting (not really relevant to the story)_

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"Flygon, come on out!" Drew called, throwing the pokéball high in the air. A white beam of light shot out from the open ball, quickly forming into Flygon, its wings flapping lightly as it hovered a few feet off the ground. Drew waited for Vulpix to make the first move. He watched it intently and almost fell over when it stopped growling and simply sat down and began grooming its face with a paw.

"Ok…" Drew muttered under his breath. "Flygon! Use Sandstorm!" Drew ordered. Flygon immediately flew a few more feet off the ground and flapped its wings in short quick bursts, releasing a powerful sandstorm attack directed at Vulpix. Vulpix remained where it was, licking its paw, until the sandstorm was almost on top of it, and then it suddenly jumped straight up, out of the way. The attack continue past Vulpix and disappeared into the trees.

As Vulpix reached the height of its jump, it opened its mouth, releasing a simply ember attack. Flygon tried to dodge, but the attack hit the tip of its wing. Careful not to spiral out of control, Flygon quickly landed and pulled it's injured wing in close to its body. Drew glanced at the injury and released the attack had been more powerful than it had looked, especially since Flygon had a natural resistance to fire-type attacks. His desire was catch the Vulpix increased as he wondered what else the small pokémon was capable of.

"Dragonbreath!" Flygon opened its mouth and released a wide beam of yellow-green light. Vulpix tried to dodge the attack, but was knocked backwards by it. It landed a few inches before the trees. Drew began to smirk, sure that he had won the battle. As he reached for an empty pokéball, the vulpix pulled itself up and began running forward, picking up speed for quick attack as it neared Flygon. Caught off guard, Flygon took the full-strength of the attack and fell back. Vulpix simply sat down on top of the knocked out flygon and stared at Drew while it slowly twitched its tails. It seemed to be asking "Is that all you've got?" The vulpix yawned and stretched, then lithely jumped down and trotted back into the forest.

Drew stared after the little fox, then sighed as he recalled Flygon. "I should take him to a pokécenter. How much farther is Mahogany Town?"

Gary checked the map on his pokégear. "About an hour and a half on foot. Let's get going."

A couple days later, Drew was flying around the perimeter of Mahogany Town on Flygon's back. Misty had left the day before to go back to the gym, and Gary had returned to Sinnoh until Misty needed him again. Drew needed to prepare for the Mahogany contest, which was only a couple weeks away, but he was missing a key component for success, and so far, he hadn't found it yet.

After they'd been flying around for a few hours, he spotted his key to success and smirked as he had Flygon circle down. He thanked and recalled Flygon, then got into position, leaning carelessly against a tree, every inch of his body just barely hidden by the shadows. He smiled to himself when he heard the voice draw closer, talking to itself.

"Mahogany Town grows nearer as our adventurer continues on her way. What awaits her in this new place?" The voice stopped and Drew heard a giggle. He could just imagine her smiling to herself at her little game. "Eevee! Where are you going?!" The voice suddenly cried out.

A moment later, Drew felt something touch his leg, and looked down to see an eevee looking up at him happily. May wasn't far behind. "Drew? Do you normally hide in shadows off the side of the road like this?" May asked, both confused that Drew was there, and proud that she had said something clever. However, Drew chose to ignore her comment.

"Today is your lucky day, May." Drew began, pushing himself away from the tree as he spoke.

"Why's that?" May asked suspiciously, her eyes narrowing.

Drew walked up to her, stopping only inches away. "Today is your lucky day because I choose you." Drew paused to see her reaction.

Although she tried to hide it, May couldn't stop the blush from crossing her face. "Wha-what? Choose me? What are you talking about?" May stuttered. She refused to believe he meant what he was implying.

Drew decided to mess with her head some more, so he softened his gaze a bit and gently brushed some of May's hair off her face. He had to force back a smirk when May's blush deepened, although he was having to hide a small blush of his own. He leaned forward to whisper in her ear. "I choose you to be my partner..." He paused for dramatic effect, although it seemed to May like that was the end of the sentence.

May couldn't stop the blush anymore. She felt like her face was on fire, and her heartbeat wasn't helping the matter. She wanted to say something witty and push Drew away, but she just couldn't process what he meant.

Drew smirked. May couldn't see it because his mouth was still close to her ear. "…in the Mahogany Town contest." He finished. Still smirking, Drew pulled away and simply watched the emotions cross May's face.

At first, May still seemed to be in shock, her eyes wide and a very colorful blush on her cheeks. Almost immediately, May pursed her lips and pulled her eyebrows together in confusion. After a few seconds of processing, May's eyes narrowed and she made a growling sound. "You could've just asked, you know."

Drew shrugged. "Not nearly as much fun." He replied simply.

May huffed, crossed her arms, and looked away from the jerk. "I'll think about it." She said sharply, then turned and began walking quickly down the road. Eevee quickly followed, although she wasn't sure what exactly had just happened. Drew chuckled to himself as he slowly followed May down the road.

May arrived in Mahogany minutes ahead of Drew. She was still fuming, and the few townspeople she passed gave her plenty of space. She was almost to the pokécenter when a hand grabbed her shoulder and whipped her around. May yelped in surprise.

"May! I'm sooo glad to see you here, darling! Let's be partners in the contest!" Harley said happily, all the while holding May's hands in his own. He had to bend down a little because May was still shorter than him.

May tried to pull away, but to no avail. "Um. I can't, Harley. I…" She said, trying to figure out what to do. Then she noticed Drew strolling down the path towards her. When he noticed her watching him, he smirked and gave her a two-fingered salute. May jerked away from Harley and ran to Drew, surprising him enough to stop smirking. May grabbed one of Drew's arms and quickly stated, "I already promised Drew I'd be his partner!"

Harley pouted for a moment, then happily declared, "Well, we'll see you at the contest, May. Bye!" With that, Harley dropped May's hands and ran off down the road.

Drew paused to watch Harley rush by, then a smirk light up his face once again. "So you accept my proposal?" He asked as nonchalantly as he could, although his amusement was evident.

May let go of Drew's arm, sighed, and hung her head in defeat. "Yes, but first, I have a question." She replied, then popped her head back up to look at Drew.

"What's that?" Drew asked, clearly pleased that he had won her over, even if she had just agreed in order to avoid Harley.

"Um…what are doubles contests?" She asked sheepishly.

Drew opened his mouth to tease her for not knowing, until he remembered that he'd needed Misty to explain them to him just three days prior, so instead he sighed and began a short explanation. "Doubles contests are basically the same as singles contests, except you work alongside a partner. So for our appeal, we'll each use one of our pokémon, but they'll have to be in-sync with one another. Same for the battles. It adds another level of synchronization to the contest. Of course, the number of pokémon involved can vary by contest."

May took a moment to process Drew's explanation. "That sounds like fun." She proclaimed. "So, what pokémon should we use?"

Drew shook his head. "Let's get all of our pokémon out and see how they work together, then we'll decide."

May nodded. "Maybe they should just play together first, and then we can get to work training." May said thoughtfully. She waited for Drew to respond, then sighed after a moment and tossed all of her pokéballs into the air. "Everyone, come on out." Drew silently did the same.

* * *

_Notes:_

_Vulpix will be a recurring pokémon, and that is all I will say on the matter, for now._

_A/N:_

_Sadly this is about 400-500 words shorter than I aim for in each chapter, but it seemed appropriate to end it here rather than write out their practice. This way you guys are less likely to figure out which pokémon I've paired up in the contest. =3_

_As I've said before, although I am trying to mimic the anime in many ways, there is supposed to be more fluff between them than the anime would ever allow. Also, events like what happened early on in this chapter are reserved for when May and Drew are alone, at least for now. So it's not fluff so much as Drew wanted to mess with May's head and examine her reaction. Also keep in mind that, for the most part, we don't get into the characters' heads in the anime, so we don't always know how they're feeling or what they're hiding and such, as we often do in written stories._

_(Update 01: I've updated a few parts of the chapter that mentioned the contest being "tomorrow" when it will actually take place a couple weeks later.)_

* * *

_Review Replies:_

_Arysd – I have to admit that I was actually quite shocked to realize how long it had been since I had last updated._

_xSapphirexRosesxFanx – Yes, Drew is going to meet up with May soon. =P I have renewed inspiration for the pairing, so once I get a grip of the characters again, I'll be writing like crazy, and hopefully updates will actually start to be on time shortly after that._

_PokeGirlMisty – I hate to say it, but I hadn't even thought of reusing old characters for the readers. ^^; I just liked the challenge of using old elements from the anime. I also listen to songs on youtube if they're featured in a story. I'm actually only including the song lyrics for songs owned by the pokémon company, as there's something in FanFiction's policy about not using song lyrics in a story. However, if the pokémon company is alright with people writing fanfiction about pokémon, then it should therefore be fine to use pokémon-owned song lyrics. I can't promise that Ritchie and Sparky will make it in, but there's definitely a possibility. I had not planned on using the Jigglypuff, especially since I already have a couple of running gags in mind for the story. Again though, there's always a possibility that Jigglypuff will appear in some way, just not necessarily the way you expect it to. =3 Go to and search for eeveelutions. There are a bunch of pictures of what people think the other eeveelutions might look like, and some of them are absolutely amazing! I had only named and designed perhaps three or four of the remaining eeveelutions when I discovered the others artwork, but my designs aren't nearly as good (for now, at least.)_


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